Day 2 Reloaded: A 24Alias Crossover
by DavidB226Morris
Summary: When a dire threat to Los Angeles is uncovered, it will take the combined efforts of CTU and APO to stop it. Sydney Bristow's never had a day like this. Will also be posted at Alias. At least we have finished!
1. 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM

Day 2 Reloaded ---- A 24/Alias Crossover

By DavidB226Morris

Summary: Ever wonder how Jack Bauer and Sydney Bristow could work for the CIA in the same city and never cross paths? Well, that's about to change. When a dire threat to the city of Los Angeles is discovered, it will take the combined work of CTU and APO to stop it. Sydney's never had like a day like this.

Rating: PG-13 to R (strong language, possibly graphic violence)

Disclaimer: Jack Bauer, President David Palmer and the rest of the team at CTU belong to Joel Surnow and all the staff at Real Time Productions. Sydney Bristow and the team at APO are the property of J.J. Abrams and the people at Bad Robot. I don't own them and I never will. I'm just borrowing them for a little while.

Explanation: This story may seem a little familiar to you at first, and there's a reason for that. As a lunching point for this work I am going to be retelling the events of the second season of _24_ with the cast of Alias joining the hunt for the nuclear bomb. As the story progresses I intend to be making certain changes to how the day went on based on certain people and associations from _Alias._. In other words, what happens to some of the characters from _24 _on Day 2may be dramatically different then in the real thing.

In addition, there are some other provisos.

This story assumes that the events in Day 1 occurred before Sydney woke up in Argentina and found that two years were missing from her life. It also assumes that a year has passed since then and that we are now into season 4 of Alias. I don't have a specific episode in mind, but no one yet knows about Elena Derevko yet, Vaughn hasn't gotten any hints that his father might be alive, and Sydney and Vaughn have resumed their romantic relationship.

Jack Bristow will be playing almost no role in this story. This you can blame on the author. I just don't know how I could manage to have two characters with the same first name and job without an enormous amount of confusion. Perhaps in a future story, I'll figure a way around this molehill, but I can't find a way now.

Kim Bauer will be playing a far more limited role in this story. (Pauses for applause) This story is going to be complicated enough without Kim getting caught in bear traps and being stalked by cougars.

Kate Warner's role will be much more limited. I'm not sure what role the Warner family is going to be playing in this new story, but the focus is going to be less on them,

Now as to spoilers--- almost everything of Season 1 and a goodly amount of season 2 of _24 _will come up. Season 4 of _Alias _will be in play. There may also be bits from other seasons but you'll have to read to find out (diabolical laughter)

Still there? Then let's start the clock.

Chapter 1

**The following takes place between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M.**

_An Undisclosed Location in Seoul, South Korea_

**Midnight**

When you work in intelligence, the only way that you can survive is if you perfect a poker face and wear it every day for the rest of your life. And if you wear that face for long enough--- say, thirty years --- that mask becomes the only face you have.

Therefore, if the casual observer had looked at Jack Bristow as he monitored the 'interrogation' of the prisoner, you might have thought that he was completely indifferent to what was being done to this man. You might think that he wasn't seeing the drills and poisons that they were forcing on his body, that he didn't hear the screams of pain from the tormented man, that he didn't smell the mix of blood, chemicals and urine that was coming from the detainee. And, to a degree, you would have been correct. Jack Bristow wasn't seeing any of this--- he was just observing the 'routine extraction of information from a known hostile', as his colleagues in the CIA would have put it. In occasions like this, the double talk helped make the unpalatable acceptable. It even helped you get past the fact that they already knew most of what this poor man had to say--- they just needed one more important detail that only he could provide.

Sometimes--- particularly in the last few years--- he wondered when he had finally become thick-skinned past the point of no return. .It was an exercise, though--- Jack knew that once you passed a certain point, there was no going back. More often, he wondered if his daughter had reached this point yet. He didn't think she had, but she would probably reach it soon. It might even come sooner than she thought.

Suddenly, he became aware that their captive had shouted out 'All right! All right!" in Korean. He realized that this might be it. Jack walked up to the prisoner, and ignored the scars on his body, the blood under his fingernails, the stench of rot that was coming from him. All of these were irrelevant. What he had to say was not.

"Tell me when." he said in Korean.

The prisoner gasped and spat for several seconds before he managed to speak. He said one word.

"Today."

For the briefest of moments, a wave of cold went through Jack Bristow. Then the part of him that managed to operate even in the midst of crisis kicked in. He took out his cell phone and began to make the call he needed to

"This is Bristow. It's today. Get everybody on the wire--- NSA, Homeland Security, FBI." Pause. "Yes. Get in touch with the Los Angeles director of CTU. And notify Director Chase. They need to enact Directive 6- A1 _now."_

Even as Bristow said all this, all he could think was that after he hung up, everything would be out of his hands. The rest was up to the people on the other side of globe.

_Please let Sydney get through this, _he thought.

Los Angeles

**8:03:46 / 8:03:47/8:03:48**

As Sydney Bristow settled into her jog around the reservoir, she tried to do what she managed to do every other day and put all of her cares and concerns into another place. This was no small feat, considering that she worked for a black ops unit in the CIA, that the man who ran this unit, Arvin Sloane, was the one person in this world that she would hate and distrust until the day she died—or he did, whichever came first. Not to mention that she was in constant conflict with a terrorist organization that seemed to have made it part of their mission to destroy her life, and that the relationship with one of the men that she loved seemed to be endlessly complicated even though the two of them were practically living together.

Of all these issues, it was her relationship with Vaughn that currently caused her the most distress—unlike the other issues, that was the only one she had a level of control over. This was why, even though her relationship with Vaughn had been going smoothly over the past three months, it was one of the things that concerned her more. Even last night, after the two of them had made love, she had lain awake for some time afterward wondering where they were headed.

It was for these reasons that her morning jogs had become important to her. By running five miles each day, she managed to reach a zone where, for awhile at least, she was able to leave her mind completely blank and focus on nothing but the movement of her body and the racing of her heart.

This morning, however, even this was denied her. Her thoughts kept coming back to the real world and current problems—most specifically, something that had happened three days ago.

Her father had left on a trip to South Korea. This in itself was nothing odd. Her father had been making overseas trips since she was a little girl, even if she hadn't known until five years ago that they were for 'the Company'. What was odd was that, unlike most of them over the previous four **_years, her _**father had given her no details as to what this might be about, saying her clearance level wasn't high enough. And since her clearance level was only slightly below his, the situation was worse than usual—and Sydney didn't even think that was possible..

And if the situation was that bad, it meant that he had been brought in on an official investigation, and officially, her father no longer worked for the CIA.

So the only question remaining was, essentially: Now what?

Her cell phone chose that moment to ring. She stopped running, took a few seconds to catch her breath, and pulled it out.

"Bristow." she gasped out.

"This is Sloane."

Almost by instinct, she tightened up. No matter how loyal her boss said he was to this country, no matter how much faith Director Chase said they had in him,she would never be able to relax around Sloane. "Yes."

There was a pause on the other end. This was odd. Sloane almost never hesitated in his speech no matter what the circumstances. "Sydney, where are you?" he finally said.

She looked around. "I'm half a mile down Sepulveda**_" _**

**_Another _**hesitation. "I've already talked with Agent Vaughn." he said slowly. "He'll be driving by in a few minutes. When he picks you up, you're to come to CTU in Ventura County. Agent Vaughn will know how to get there."

CTU? What the hell was she going there for? As far as the rest of the CIA knew, APO didn't exist. "Sloane, was the hell is going on?" she said.

"Agent Bristow, I understand your concerns. However, I can't go into detail over the phone."

"Why not?" This was supposed to be rhetorical. Sloane answered anyway.

"Because if the wrong people hear this, it could cause a mass panic."

Now she was starting to become alarmed. "Sloane, what the…"

"Sydney, wait for Vaughn. Your questions will be answered soon enough."

With that Sloane hung up.

**8:11:28/8:11:29/8:11:30/ 8:11:31**

When Vaughn showed up he brought a change of clothes and one of Sydney's guns (she never went for a run with her.45) However, he didn't have any answers as to what Sloane had been talking about. That wasn't the only thing troubling Sydney though.

"We're black-ops, and the official word from the Agency is that we do not **_exist," she _**mused. "Why the hell would he tell us to go to the Counter Terrorist Unit?"

Vaughn shook his head. "According to normal Agency protocol, interdepartmental fusion is only done between recognized sections. A unit like ours wouldn't even get an invite to the office Christmas party."

"So what does that mean? That the order came from someone above Director Chase?"

"Maybe." Vaughn considered the idea. "It could also have been done by someone in a different position in the chain of command, like Homeland Security or the NSA."

"And the only reason they'd do that was if there was a possibility of a major threat to national security."

Vaughn nodded. "Like we don't already deal with that sort of thing."

**_S_**ydney mulled this over for a moment. "But that's another question: we're CIA, most of our work is international affairs."

There was a moment of silence as they pondered this. "You don't think this could have anything to do with the trip your father is on?" Vaughn asked.

Sydney pondered this. "Could be. But if it's company business, why wouldn't he tell m… us about it?"

A smile briefly crossed Vaughn's face at Syd's slip. "Maybe its got something to do with this new administration. When Palmer took office he said he wanted to make some major overhauls in how the government does its business."

"And you think he's actually following up on it?" Sydney said with incredulity.

"Stranger things have happened."

"Not much." If that were true, wouldn't Palmer have considered taking Arvin Sloane out and shooting him? Sydney redirected the conversation slightly. "Don't you have any contacts with CTU?"

Michael shook his head. "I worked with them occasionally when I first joined the Agency but even before I became… your handler, most of my work was overseas." He paused. "But you know Dixon worked with them pretty closely while he was head of operations a couple of years back."

The second Syd heard this, she felt like slapping herself on the forehead. Of course Dixon had worked with CTU. His job as operations head over the past three years would have put him in constant contact with domestic operations even when he had been working with her against the Covenant.

"Yeah, he worked with them when there was an attempt on the **_President's _**life a year ago."

Sydney frowned. When she'd erased her memories of the past two years, she had also wiped out any information of current events. "That was when, about a month before I resurfaced?" she asked.

"Yeah." There was another moment of uncomfortable silence. The last year had been a difficult one for both Sydney and Vaughn. Neither of them liked to think of hell that Lauren Reed had put both of them through. Even though their relationship had been mended, Syd had the feeling that it was still pretty brittle. "Look Syd----"

"Vaughn." Syd held up her hand. "This is probably going to be a high pressure day for both of us. I think that we need to agree right now, they we try and put the personal stuff on hold for awhile, okay?"

Vaughn thought for a moment, then nodded. "Probably just as well."

"Why?"

"We're here."

The Los Angeles Counter-Terrorist Unit was a very large facility--- it had to be considering the gravity of the job that was being carried out within its walls. The security was high level even for that of a government agency, with nearly a dozen guards watching the front door alone.

As Vaughn drove up to the gate, Syd had a thought. "Does our identification work with other CIA departments?"

"I have a feeling were going to find out soon enough." Vaughn looked at Sydney. "Ready?"

Sydney pulled on her jacket. "Let's go."

As Vaughn parked the car, Sydney saw a comforting sight--- at least one that assured they would not be walking into the lion's den alone. "Nadia."

Sydney's half-sister walked over from her car to join them. "You have any idea what this is about?" she asked.

Syd shook her head. "Um, your father didn't tell you?" It still galled her to refer to Sloane in terms that weren't derogatory.

"No." Now Nadia was frowning. "He said that it was a matter of dire importance but that he couldn't go into detail over the phone." The three agents began walking over to the front door." He sounded very concerned."

Sydney knew Sloane well enough to take everything he did---- even his interaction with his daughter--- with a grain of salt. "What do you mean?"

"It took him a minute just to say what he did." Nadia looked around. "He seemed worried."

Now Sydney was becoming curious. In all the years she had known Sloane, he always appeared unflappable. For him to sound concerned even for a moment was very out of character. What could have him so concerned? Nerve gas deployed in the subways? The threat of biological weapons? What?

**8:20:33/8:20:34/8:20:35 **

Having cleared the electronic security system, the three agents walked into CTU proper. It was an impressive site, even to people who had seen the interiors of many such buildings.

The structure of the interior was a fusion of glass and steel. There were closed off rooms around, to be sure, but most of the offices were visible to the naked eye. There were also desks outside the offices. And everywhere, or it would seem to the untrained eye, were computers and screens at which data and information seemed to flow at an amazing rate There were at least fifty people sitting at their desks and probablytwice as many walking around. Everyone moved with the efficiency and sense of purpose that you would hope to see from this kind of unit.

The three agents looked for a familiar face and found one. "Marshall!" Sydney called out.

The technical expert was at one of the computer banks working alongside a modestly attractive woman with black hair. "Syd! Hey! You're here!" Marshall rose to his feet. "I mean, of course, you're here, I mean, cause when Mr. Sloane tells us where to be that's where we all have to go…."

The three of them were all used to Marshall nervous ramblings, but they also knew that sometimes you needed to turn him off. "Marshall, where are the others?"

"Oh, right! Paula, could you handle this for a minute? Thanks." Marshall rose to his feet. "Dixon's over there with Mr. Almeida, going over some intel from Homeland Security about chatter over the phones. Mr. Sloane's upstairs with Director Mason. They're, um, having a discussion on protocol."

As if there wassome invisible cue, a man began shouting. "I understand what Raeburn said, and I'll follow through. Now get the hell out of my office!"

Sloane walked out, looking as cool and detached, certainly not out of sorts about whatever had just happened. He began walking down the stairs.

Then another man came out of the office, but for a few seconds Syd was blinking because she thought she was seeing Sloane again. The illusion was quickly dissipated because it was very clear that even though the man had a gray, receding hairline and a ridged forehead, he also had the fringe of a beard and was at least ten years Sloane's junior.

As if realizing what had just happened the other man---- who must have been Mason---- yelled down at the momentary lull that had followed. "Alright people. Get moving! Department heads and Authorized personnel in the conference room in three minutes!" With that Mason walked back into his office.

"So much for camaraderie between sections." Vaughn said, only half in jest.

Syd remained quiet. She had a vague idea what had caused the disagreement and she didn't like what it presaged for their working with CTU. She needed to get a better read on things, though, so she walked over to her old partner who seemed to be chatting amicably enough with an active Latino man.

Dixon saw her coming. "Syd, this is Assistant Director Tony Almeida. I worked with him a couple of years back on that Anthrax scare in Oakland."

Almeida stepped forward. "So you're Sydney Bristow. Marcus's told me a lot of good things about you." He offered his hand.

Sydney only gave Almeida **_a cursory _**handshake. "Dixon, do you have any idea what's going on?"

"From what I can tell, what's going on is some kind of corollary to Executive Order 6A." Off Sydney's blank look, Dixon elaborated: "When David Palmer was elected he said that one of his earliest goals to improve the way that foreign intelligence operates during potential crises was to change how intelligence agencies react. Executive Order 6A gives the President the authority to consolidate intelligence networks under one agencies jurisdiction in case of an elevated threat."

"Like when Homeland Security is raised a level." Dixon nodded. "But what'd the threat?" Sydney asked

Dixon paused. "They're finishing the final verification." There was a longer pause and looked at Almeida as if waiting for him to finish the sentence

But Almeida didn't fill in the blank. He merely turned to Dixon and said: "The briefing's in the conference room." Then he started walking away.

Sydney was a good read of body language and she was pretty sure that both she and Dixon had been told to fuck off. It was pretty clear that the people in power at CTU didn't like the people from APO and Sydney had a pretty good idea as to why.

Rather than focus on that problem she decided to deal with the other, more pressing concern. "Dixon, do you have any idea what this about?" Syd asked her partner.

Dixon hesitated for a bit before answering. "Before I came in, Sloane asked me if my children had someone they could go do in case of trouble." He paused again. "Somewhere outside of Los Angeles."

Suddenly Syd put it together. "Are you saying…"

Dixon nodded. "I think it's the big one. And I think we need to get briefed ASAP."

With that, he headed towards the conference room where several of the other agents had begun to gather. Sydney followed him.

**8:24:09/8:26:10/8:24:11/ 8:24:12**

In the briefing room Syd saw that, with the exception of her father, the entire APO unit was present. She hoped that the presence of Weiss, Dixon and Vaughn--- people with standing in the agency--- would ease the minds of those who didn't trust Arvin Sloane. She doubted it, though.

Sloane filled no one with respect.

"All right." said George Mason. "What you are about to hear has been triple sourced and confirmed by NSA and Homeland Security." He took a deep breath. "There is a nuclear device under terrorist control on American soil."

Even for people who were prepared for this kind of event, it was still a shock for Sydney to hear it.

Not surprisingly, Sloane recovered first, as though he had been expecting it. "Where?"

"Los Angeles." Mason then answered the next obvious question. "The intel indicates it will be detonated some time today."

There was a brief pause as the enormity of what Mason had said sunk in. Almeida recovered first. "How do we know this?"

Mason tapped on a keyboard. An Arab with beard appeared on one of the screens behind him. "This man is Mamoud Raji-Faheen, a terrorist **_who we believe_** has been associated with several fundamentalist groups. He has been associated with several acts of terror, the most recent of which was the Valentine's Day bombing on the West Bank."

Sydney found herself nodding. She, like the rest of the agency, had received briefings on this less than six weeks ago.

"Two days ago, we learned that the secondary purpose of this attack was to create the illusion that Faheen had been killed. We didn't learn this until five days ago" Mason tapped another key to show a picture of Faheen and an Asian man. "NSA had the man on the left, Jason Park, under surveillance. It was pure luck that we found Faheen was alive."

A woman on Mason's left with light brown hair in a ponytail took over. "After Park was grabbed we spent two days extracting information from him. Less than half an hour ago, he told us that Faheen has been planning this attack for two years."

"Why wasn't Faheen picked up then?" asked Vaughn.

"The photograph wasn't analyzed until after the two men had separated."

This struck Sydney as more than a little suspicious, but she decided to let it pass for now.

"Who controls Faheen?" asked Dixon.

"A relatively new splinter group called Second Wave." said Mason

"And who backs them?" asked Weiss.

"Officially, they are not recognized by any of the Middle Eastern States." Mason typed on the screen to reveal a map of the region. "Unofficially, half the countries in the territory have some kind of training camps within their borders." He tapped on the screen. "But right now, foreign affairs are the least of our concerns."

"What are our major concerns?" asked Sloane.

Mason fixed him with a look of extreme distaste. "You know, if I have to answer any more questions like that, somebody shoot me. _Our _major concerns are using all of the resources of this government in order to stop this device from being **_used."_**

"Do we have any leads on the domestic front?" Tony asked.

The look of disgust disappeared from Mason's face. "Unfortunately, chatter on the usual frequencies has been non-existent, no known members of Second Wave have been spotted on American **_soil, and _**there are no associates of Faheen anywhere." Mason then grew silent. "We do have one possibility in Los Angeles but its shaky."

"Why?" asked Vaughn

"There's only one person who can do this, and he's avoided any of our attempts to---"

Mason's cell rang. "Yeah?" He was quiet. "He's on his way?" Pause."Just get him in here. We'll figure the rest out then." He hung up. "All right people, I need this room clear."

There was a murmur of dismay among the assembled. "But we haven't finished the briefing." someone said.

"Look, I don't know if he's going to go through with this. But if he sees an army of agents gathered around, he's going to think he's being ganged up on and he will bolt. So clear the room." He stood up straight. "And remember, from this moment, we only communicate within this envelope. We do not call friends, we do not call family. We don't have to like it but this is our job. So let's get to it."

It wasn't exactly the St. Crispin's Day speech but most of the agents left without complaining. Sydney was almost at the door when Mason spoke again. "Agent Bristow, Agent Dixon, a moment of your time."

Vaughn exchanged glances with Sydney who shrugged and hung back. Mason appeared to be their superior and you did what your superior wanted.

As soon as the room was empty of everyone except Sydney, Dixon, Mason and the brown-haired female agent, Mason turned to them. "I'll make this quick. The agent in question is Jack Bauer."

The name meant nothing to Sydney but it clearly meant something to Dixon. " Bauer? He's been inactive for more than a year. How the hell can he in any shape to help?"

"NSA says he's the best shot we have at finding this guy. Bristow, there's an observation room next door. Go there and… observe."

"That's it?" said Bristow doubtfully.

"Don't worry. If he says yes, things become a lot more fun."

Dixon turned to her. "Do it, Syd. This will be delicate."

Sydney didn't like this, but right now she decided to go along. As she left, there was only one thing on her mind:

Who was Jack Bauer?

**8:33:26/8:33:27/8:33:28/8:33:29**

Sydney had hoped that she would have gotten some time to talk to Vaughn or Weiss, ask what either of them knew Bauer, and why he had been inactive for a year. She was **_about to do so,_** when the man himself walked into CTU. She had never seen him before, but she could tell who he was by the way the atmosphere changed. No one said a word but for a few seconds the hustle and movement of the agents slowed as they saw someone they clearly hadn't expected to see again.

Bauer had blondish-brown hair and a scruff growth of beard--- almost like Vaughn, though Bauer was clearly six or seven years older than him. What was different was the intensity and thedarkness that seemed **_to come off him _**like heat distorting the light around it

Sydney's first impression of Jack Bauer was that of a caged animal. He seemed detached and uninvolved--- he might even think he _was _detached and uninvolved--- but Sydney had the idea that this man could strike out at the slightest provocation.

Right now Bauer was talking with Almeida. Sydney decided to go to the observation room and watch from there. Bauer's personal life was his business. His **_professional life was _**hers.

Sydney walked into the observation room. A few seconds later Bauer and Almeida entered the office.

George Mason got to his feet. "Jack." he said quietly. "Well, Jack Bauer this is Michelle---"

"What am I doing here?" Bauer cut right to the point.

Mason decided to do the same. "There's a rogue nuclear weapon somewhere in LA. Intel says it's going off today."

Bauer clearly was in the business--- his expression gave nothing away. "How good is your intel?" he asked calmly.

"Very. NSA did the groundwork. They have high probability leads in several regional cells that might be involved."

Bauer took this in. "How close are you to locating a prime suspect?" he asked bluntly.

Mason was just as blunt. "Not close at all. That's what you'rehere for."

Bauer paused, nodded--- and then turned and walked out the door.

"Jack, what the hell—" Mason started.

"Let me talk to him." said Almeida, following behind him. After a moment's hesitation, so did Dixon.

As Tony had expected, Jack went right to a phone and began to dial. "Jack…" he began.

Jack held up his hand. "Sweetheart, it's me." Pause. "No it's not about us. They called me back into CTU and gave me some information. I can't tell you what this is about but it is absolutely critical that you and I get out of Los Angeles as soon as possible."

Whatever Kim said it was not pleasant because a few seconds later Jack was saying "No, no damn it." He then redialed the number. "Honey, its me. If you don't want to leave with me, fine but you need to get out of Los Angeles. It's not safe here. So please don't tell anyone but call Aunt Carol. I'm sending someone to pick you up now. Just go there and call me on my cell." He paused. "Sweetheart, please just do this for me." He hung up, picked up his jacket and started towards the door.

"Jack…" said Tony.

"Tony, I don't have time for this."

"Wait a minute." Tony got right in front of him. "The reason you were called in was because it's a background match. You're the only one who can run with this."

Jack hesitated, but only momentarily. "I don't care."

"Jack, we can get to Kim before you can, we can get her out of the city, we can keep her safe! But the best thing that you can do for her right now is help us find that bomb!"

This time Jack didn't even hesitate. "I trusted everybody at CTU to keep Teri safe last year and I lost her! I'm not going to lose my daughter too!"

He tried to get past Tony who continued to block his path. "I know Jack. I was here when it happened."

This gave Jack pause. "Tony, I know you did everything you could. I just--- I can't lose Kim."

Jack was practically at the door. Suddenly another voice spoke. "Jack." The ex-agent paused. "It's Marcus Dixon." This apparently meant something to him because he turned around.

"We met at one of those trauma therapy groups Doctor Hiller held six months ago. You told me about Teri, I told you about Diane, remember?"

Marcus walked up to Jack. "Tony could you give us a minute?" Tony hesitated. "Please." Tony backed away.

"I told you that the worst part of losing my wife was that every morning I had to wake up and face that I lost Diane all over again." Jack was nodding at this. "You asked me how I could keep doing my job. You remember what I said?"

Jack nodded. "Because of your kids."

"Right. They're the only real thing of Diane that I have left, and I couldn't go on if I wasn't doing everything in my power to keep them safe." Dixon paused. :"Now I know that you feel the same way about Kim, and I know you want to keep her safe, and the only way that you can really do that is to help find this bomb."

There was a long hesitation. For a second Dixon thought that Jack was still going to leave. He added one last thing. "I've got people taking my kids out of LA. You go back in, I will make it my personal responsibility that Kim is safe as well."

Jack considered this. Finally he turned around and headed back to the conference room.

Marcus sighed. "God help me, I hope this is the right thing to do."

**8:44:11/8:44:12/8:44:13/8:44:14**

Mason and Tony were in the middle of a serious debate when Bauer returned. "Here's the deal. I want Grove or Wilson to get my daughter and get her a safe distance out of the city."

"Done." said Mason.

"Second, I want to be constantly updated on her status at all times by Tony or Marcus. I'm sorry George, " he said bitterly. "I justdon't trust you."

Having gotten what he needed, George was back to normal. "Well, you're going to have to start, Jack. What's happening today none of us can walk away from. Tony and I'll make sure it's taken care of." He nodded at Tony, who nodded back.

Bauer hesitated, then sat down. "Tell me about the regional cells."

The woman on Mason's right--- Michelle--- handed over a file to Jack. "The most promising one is headed by Joseph Wald."

Jack took the file without comment. Clearly he knew the name.

"Wald's been linked **_to a terrorist_** group called Second Wave." He looked at his copy. "That's why it had to be you. You put in time undercover with him."

"I put him in jail, George." Bauer said bluntly.

"Yeah, well he's out pending appeal."

"He's actually on trial for new charges." said Michelle. "If he's convicted, he gets life, no parole."

"How is he linked to the bomb?"

Mason looked at the file. "NSA links him with alleged members of the threat behind the bomb."

"Why not just pick Wald up?" Bauer asked.

"We haven't been able to track him down." admitted Mason. "He's not at any of the addresses in his file."

Bauer thought quickly. "Are there any key witnesses against Wald in his trial?"

Mason clearly was unsure where Jack was going with this. "There's one."

Michelle handed him a second file. "Marshall Goren. Apparently without him, there's no case."

"Good. Bring him in."

Now George was clearly perplexed. "What? Why?"

"You want me to reestablish my cover with Wald, right?

"Yeah."

"To reestablish my cover would normally take at least six weeks. You want me to do it in, what, less than two hours? Where is the FBI holding Goren?"

"Downtown. Right here. In protective custody" said Mason slowly.

"Good. Bring **_him in._** _Now"_

Sydney would later consider the first sign that this was a man used to having his orders followed. Apparently Mason did too, because he pulled out his cell and started dialing.

What the hell was going on?

**8:49:28/8:49:29/8:49:30**

"Syd, what the hell are you doing here?"

Sydney was a little startled. She had been so intent on watching the scene before her unfold that she hadn't seen Vaughn enter the room. "Mason said he wanted me to observe."

"What?"

"Him." she said, gesturing to the conference room, where Bauer was now looking at a computer screen with Michelle.

Vaughn took this in. "So that's the infamous Jack Bauer."

"You know him?"

"Only by reputation. He ran this office a few years back."

"How did he fall from grace?"

Vaughn thought for a second. "About a month before you resurfaced in China, there was an assassination attempt on then Senator Palmer. The men behind the threat were members of Victor Drazen's family."

"The Serbian warlord?"

"The same. They targeted Palmer and Bauer himself because of some connection the two men had to Drazen's assassination. The way I heard it, Bauer practically brought him down single-handedly."

Sydney pointed towards Bauer. "So why's he out of favor?"

Vaughn sighed. "From what I heard, members of the conspiracy attempted to kill Bauer's family as well." He hesitated. "One of them, a colleague of Jack's, killed his wife here at CTU. He's been estranged from the Agency ever since."

For the first time Sydney felt sympathy for the man in the conference **_r_**oom. "And he's the one they want to handle this thing?"

"Bauer was a good agent, Syd. If they brought him, they think he can do the job."

At that point Mason reentered. "Our friends at the FBI weren't too happy with me, Jack. I suggest you get what you need and get moving."

Jack seemed to ignore Mason, choosing to instruct Michelle on how to touch up his cover story.

"Jack, are you planning to let me in on the plan?" Mason said sarcastically.

"I also need you to get in touch with **_a parole _**officer named Rudy Collette. I need you to brief him and work him into my cover."

"Jack." By now Mason's patience was running thin. "Look at you. You look like a bum off the street. You're not talking to me, I just confiscated a witness outside of my authority based on your call, now are you going to tell me what you're doing?

"No." said Bauer bluntly

Mason sighed. "Are you losing it, Jack? Because I don't have the time or resources to clean up your messes today."

"I'm not losing it George." Bauer said patiently

Mason clearly didn't by this but he was prevented from further discussion when two marshals brought a man with handcuffs into the room.

"That must be Goren." Syd said.

Vaughn wanted to interrupt but never got the chance. Bauer asked the agents if they would put Goren in the chair.

"Michelle, would you excuse us?' Jack said gently.

Michelle was clearly a little taken aback. "Don't you want---"

"No."

Michelle looked at Mason, then got up and left. Bauer closed the door, leaving just the three men in the room.

"You are Marshall Goren?" Bauer asked casually.

Goren, an ugly looking man, **_said, _**"Yeah."

"Eight counts, abducting a minor. Two counts, child pornography. First-degree murder." Bauer continued to speak neutrally.

"Hey, I don't need to hear this noise." said Goren cockily. "I already made my deal. All I gottado is testify against Wald. And I walk."

In her years at SD-6, the special unit, and now APO Sydney had long since thought that she had lost the capability for being surprised anymore. She kept finding, however, that this was not the case—often in unexpected places.

Which explained why she was startled when Bauer swiftly turned around and shot Goren in the chest. She hadn't even known Bauer was carrying until that moment.

If Sydney was astonished, Mason was stunned. "Goddamnit, Jack, what the hell have you done?'

Bauer, however, had already moved on to other business. "I need a back-up team and a helicopter in fifteen minutes" he said, kneeling over the body.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" Mason shouted.

"You want to find the bomb? This is what it's gonna take!" Bauer said, as he checked for a pulse he knew wasn't going to be there.

"Killing a witness?" Mason couldn't seem to get past this.

"That's the problem with you, George. You want results but you never want to get your hands dirty. If I were you I'd start rolling up your sleeves." Bauer rolled the body over. "I'm gonna need a hacksaw."

Sydney, who could add two and two as well as anybody, got out of the observation room in a hurry. As it turned out, she nearly beat Mason to the hall. She had a second to wonder why nobody was gathering around to ask about the shot--- and then remembered that CIA rooms had soundproof walls.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." Mason said angrily to an unknown subordinate. "Just get the chopper ready.' He spotted Sydney. "Agent Bristow, my office, NOW!!"

_What the hell did I do?_ Sydney thought to herself. She walked to the stairway regardless.

By the time she got there Mason was in his office. "'Bring him in, George.' he mocked himself. **_" 'We_** need him to resolve this' My ass!" Seeing Sydney, he turned and managed to regain control. "Agent Bristow, I take it you observed Jack's latest little performance."

"You could say that." she said carefully.

"What do you think of Jack's work? Speak candidly, Christ knows everyone else is."

Sydney didn't hesitate. "The man is a loose cannon and a loose screw. Sending him into the field is like throwing napalm on a forest fire."

"Glad to hear you say that, Agent Bristow. Because you've been elected fire marshal."

Sydney blinked in surprise. "Sir, are you saying---"

"Congratulations, Agent Bristow. Your assignment is to run surveillance on Jack Bauer."

**8:59:57/8:59:58/8:59:59/9:00:00**


	2. 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM

Chapter 2

The Following Takes Place between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.

"You're kidding, right?" Sydney said, unbelieving.

"Yes, Bristow, because a day when a nuclear bomb is about to go off is the perfect time to make jokes." Mason seemed capable of operating on only two levels: mock-serious and sarcastic. "You saw Bauer in there; he's dynamite with a lit fuse. I need someone to make sure he doesn't go off before we get what we need."

Sydney blinked twice. "Leaving aside that it'san unattractive metaphor, how exactly am I going to follow Bauer without being killed myself?"

"When Jack was working his old cover, he hung out with a bunch of questionable women." Mason said seriously.

Bristow arched a brow "So not only isBauer going to be showing up at a militia headquarters on the day of a major attack--- a building filled with people who want to see the man dead--- he's going to show up with a prostitute on his arm?" Sydney said derogatively. "Who came up with this master plan, Inspector Clouseau?"

"Interesting that you went right to the prostitute angle**_."_** Mason shrugged. "I just figured he'd pick you up in a bar." Sydney hadn't known George Mason for an hour and already she was really beginning to hate his wit.

"Why are you giving me this job?" Sydney asked hotly. "You've got to have someone who's more qualified to do this."

"Because right now I need all my people working on stopping this bomb. I need someone----"

"---expendable?" Sydney finished, outraged. In her years of working in intelligence, she had been told she was being used for all sorts of reasons. She couldn't remember if she'd ever been asked to do something because she was nonessential. Bristow didn't mind the undercover work. It was her job. She didn't enjoy the suddenness but she'd dealt with that before. It wasn't even that she needed to work with someone who was half-cocked. There were days she thought that she was going nuts herself. But this was certainly maddening.

"Well, when you put it like that---"said Mason, only half-facetiously.

"I don't work for CTU. You don't have the authority to order me to go to the bathroom!!"

"According to Executive Order 6A, chain of command in a crisis of this magnitude is handed to the director of the agency in charge of the crisis," Mason said calmly. "Thesecond you and all of the people on your team entered CTU, the chain of command stopped at me, no tDirector Chase."

Bristow let out a breath. This needed to be over with, and soon. "Okay, how is the communications team going to follow us?"

Mason blinked. "I don't think you understand me. This isn't one of your usual operations—it's just you and Bauer in the field. No backup—you _are_ the backup."

"You're out of your goddamn mind!" Sydney said.

At that moment, the phone on Mason's desk buzzed. He picked up without hesitation. "Mason." He was silent for a moment. "Well, get him in here!" He hung up. "Bauer's finished his sawing a man in half trick. Agent Bristow, in case you missed the meeting, there is a rogue nuclear weapon under terrorist control somewhere in LA. We have no other regional leads. None. The only hope we have of stopping this bomb from going off is an agent who hasn't been in service for over a year and who was maverick on his best day—and that day was the day he lost his wife.Someone needs to make sure that nothing happens to him, and right now you are the person for the job. _Do you get this?"_

And Sydney realized that she had no alternative. There was only one man in the city that could stop this bomb, and they needed to make sure that he stayed alive. Mason could have just said that, but she had the feeling this man only used tact to nail down carpets

Sydney looked at Mason. "Where do I go?"

"Head down to the garage. Paula will get you set up."

Without any further hesitation, Sydney opened the door.

"Agent Bristow, one last thing."

Sydney looked over her shoulder at him. Mason smiled sadly. "If I'm out of my mind for putting you with Bauer, what are you for working with Arvin Sloane?

**9:04:29/9:04:30/9:04:31**

Michael Vaughn caught Bristow as she came down the stairs from Mason's office."Hey Syd, what the hell is going on here? Bauer shoots a guy and now he's just gone? What's the game plan---"

She cut him off with fast, clipped words that belied her annoyance.."Vaughn, I have to go. Right now." Sydney brushed him off and started walking back towards the screen where she had seen Paula working.

As she did, she ran into someone she had put off dealing with as long as possible. "Sydney, what did Mason---"Sloane started.

"Not now." she said trying to brush past him.

"Sydney---"

"I. Have To. Go_."_ She said very slowly and clearly. "Talk it over with Mason. The two of you seem to be getting along swimmingly."

Mason walked by Arvin and Sydney. He didn't pay them any mind as he walked towards Bauer.

Jack stared at him, bowling bag in hand, already dressed in his undercover 'uniform' for the day. Bauer's demeanor was emotionless--- Mason wondered if that was the look Bauer had given Victor Drazen before he shot him

"What's the hold up?" he demanded.

Mason jerked his thumb behind him" Your back-up's in the middle of getting set up." he said.

There was a slight, irritated twitch in Jack's lip as he leaned towards Mason."George, the only chance that I have of pulling this off is if I go in alone. I don't need some rookie agent stumbling around on me."

"Agent Bristow is hardly a rookie. She's been with the agency for eight years, and almost all her work has been done overseas. There's no way Wald or any of his crew will recognize her."

"I can't go into Wald's house with some new girl on my arm." Jack protested. "They'll kill me before I get in the door!"

"I swear I've just had this conversation." Mason said to himself. "Jack, I'll be blunt. We're out of time, this has to work, and we are not sending you in without any back-up. So get in the chopper, talk with Bristow and find a way to do this."

Mason saw that Jack would have argued but realize that Mason was right. So he growled: "Fine", and walked to the helipad.

George sighed, then turned toward Sloane and his expression turned even grimmer. "Oh, this is going to be fun." Mason muttered to himself.

"Mason, what did you send Agent Bristow out on?"

"Someone needs to baby-sit Bauer. I figured Bristow could handle it. If I'm wrong I _sh_ould have been sent the memo."

"Seeing as that Sydney Bristow is someone whose welfare concerns me very deeply on a personal level as well as an agent under my command, I believe that I am entitled to some kind of notice about her activities."

Sloane's tone throughout the conversation had been calm as always. Nevertheless Mason fixed him with the same kind of glance he would have given a homeless person talking about the arrival of Armageddon.

"All right, rather than count the number of things wrong with that sentence, I'm going to clarify some things." Mason said "Starting with your being allowed to participate in an effort of this magnitude at all."

Sloane remained unfazed. "You heard Raeburn---"

Mason cut him off. "Yes, I did, and it astonishes me that so many high-ranking officials in this government would trust you to run a _bake sale_, much less a black-ops unit on American soil. If it were up to me I have you on the floor next to the other headless horseman Jack left us."He held up his hand to interrupt Sloane's response. "But since doing so might get me in to more shit with the wrong kind of people, I will use you and your people as I see fit"

"Very well." Sloane said calmly.

"I'm not finished. All you will do is aid and assist. You and your people, like everyone else in this unit, are under our authority. There is a chain of command here, and right now you are fourth in that line. You answer to me and you answer to Tony."

Mason stopped. Sloane reluctantly asked, "Who is directly above me?"

Mason leaned in. "Any other son of a bitch with a pulse." He turned around. "Now get back to work. Understand?"

And with that the director of CTU walked back to his office.

As was the case Sloane's taciturn demeanor gave no sign that he had just received a public dressing-down from a superior. But a close observer would have noticed that his fists had clenched and his eyes had narrowed before he calmly and coolly walked back over to Marshall.

**9:14:17/9:14:18/9:14:19/9:14:20**

The change Jack Bauer had undergone over the last ten minutes was remarkable. It wasn't just cosmetic (he had shaved and put on a brown leather jacket). It was in his attitude--- he no longer seemed like a caged animal; rather like one who was loose and ready to strike.

None of this, however, made him any more pleasant to Sydney--- Jack had only talked to her twice from the time they got in the chopper till they had walked into Atlas Auto Repair. The first had been to ask what kind of cover she was using.

'Laura Whitman." Pressed for time, Sydney had gone with one of the few aliases that she had developed for SD-6 that was still active in America. Laura already had a small record with the California PD; it wouldn't take much work for Wald's crew to find it. As for her appearance, she had changed from the clothes she had come in with to her jogging outfit--- dark pants, shorter skirt, old sunglasses. It didn't scream 'whore', but it did say 'easy'

She was just enough of a felon that Jack Roush might hang with her.

After looking at the sheet Sydney had handed him, Jack had been quiet for the chopper ride into LA. About two miles out, they got out and into a car that had been left for them. As they drove to the hideout, Jack had spoken again: "The guy we're likely to run into is Eddie Grant, Wald's second-in-command. Guy has a high bullshit meter. Fade into the background, and don't do anything unless absolutely necessary."

"Bauer, I've been dealing with people like Grant for a long time." Sydney said heatedly. "I don't need to be reminded how to work him over."

But Jack was already looking straight ahead, his mind on the job. He turned off the engine, got out of the car, and handed Sydney the black leather bag. "Open this at the right time." With that he awkwardly draped his right arm over Sydney's shoulder. Sydney wasn't sure why Jack was so uncomfortable--- then reasoned that this well might be the first time in over a year that he had held a woman. She grabbed his hand and tugged it tightly around her, making sure it looked awkward because she was hanging on him. If Grant was good as seeing through deception, she wanted it to look perfect

"Hey cowboy." Jack said as he and Sydney walked in the door.

The man at the counter looked up--- he seemed to focus more on Sydney then on Jack. "What do you want?" he said tonelessly.

"I'm here to talk to Joe."

The man--- a kid really, less than twenty--- played dumb. "Who?"

"Joe Wald. He and I used to work together."

"Sorry, man. Don't know who you're talking about."

"Look kid, why don't you get Joe on the phone, tell them that Jack's back in town and wants to talk with him?"

"Sure." said a new voice behind him. Jack turned to face the speaker and found that there were four other men with him. "Why don't I call Joe and tell him that Jack Roush is in town? Sure he'd love to see the man that put him in jail."

Jack knew the man who was talking. "Hey, Eddie. Look, I just came to square things up with Joe. You know I didn't put him in jail."

"Yeah, right."

Wald's crew moved fast. One of the men through a rabbit punch at Jack, knocking him down. Before Sydney could react, two of the other men grabbed her and lugged her to the side. "Hands off, asshole!" Sydney said without thinking.

"Lady, I don't know who you are and I don't give a shit." Grant said, as he stood over Jack. "This is your only warning: get the hell out of here and don't ask what happened to your boyfriend."

This was getting out of hand. Sydney could only see one way out of this before resorting to force. "Before you do anything you'll regret, maybe you should ask about Marshall Goren!" she said quickly.

That got Grant's attention. "What about him?" he asked.

"You know, so high, grubby faced, had a thing for kids?" Sydney said quickly. "Word is he was goingto put Wald away for life." If now wasn't the time, they were both dead. "Why don't you take a look in the bag

Grant still seemed indifferent. "Why?"

"Call it a present for Joe." Jack said as he slowly rose from the floor "I want to make things right between us."

For a minute it seemed Grant was going to kill them anyway. Then he shrugged. "Frank, look inside the bag."

A guy with a scruff of beard did just that. "Open it." Eddie said calmly

Frank did so, slowly. When he saw what was in it, he reacted about to same way any man would upon seeing a severed head looking at him. He let the bag fall to the floor.

"Insert your own talking head joke here." Sydney said as casually as she could manage.

The hoodlum looked at Jack, then gave a small smile and let Jack go. "And what's the chick got to do with any of this?" he asked.

"She helped me get to Goren." Jack said suddenly

"How?" asked one of the other hoodlums.

Sydney squared her shoulders, thrusting out her chest, ever so slightly"Even the FBI wants to let down its hair occasionally." She said calmly.

For a moment Sydney thought she had gone too far. Then Grant gave a small smile. "What's your name?"

"Laura."

"Well, welcome to the party, Laura." Grant said.

**9:23:10/9:23:11/9:23:12**

"Marcus." Mason said as he walked toward the black man.

"You got something for me, George?" Dixon asked.

"You get your kids out of the city yet?"

Dixon nodded. "Grove picked them up about twenty minutes ago."

"What about Kim?"

"Apparently, she's working as an au pair for a wealthy couple on the Boulevard. Grove should be on his way there now."

Dixon suspected something was up. He had known George Mason from some exercises when he had been head of operations. Mason was basically the typical bureaucrat who avoided personal discussion like the plague.

"Five minutes ago, I got a call from Chapelle, who got a call from Hammond a few minutes before that. There's been a lot of fecal gravity about APO merging with CTU, and Division's not happy."

"George, in all the years you've worked here, has Division ever been happy about anything?" Dixon asked rhetorically.

Mason gave a humorless smile. "Even so, Chapelle says that there's a shortage of experienced heads, and that they need someone from your unit to go to Division and help with operations there. I figured because you have experience in both worlds, you're the most capable guy for the job."

"Careful, George, you almost said something nice about someone from Sloane's unit." Dixon said sarcastically.

"Look, I admit I'm not happy about this situation at all, but I don't have time to hold anyone's hands, and I shouldn't have to." Mason said. "We're up to our necks in shit. I've got to lead a hunt for a nuclear bomb while working with a known terrorist; I don't care how many times he's been pardoned. Right now I desperately need someone to make my job a little easier, and I'm asking you to do that. Normally I'd send Sloane, just to get him out of the building, but I'd prefer not to rely on him for anything other than fertilizer."

There were a lot of things wrong with Mason's statement, but Dixon knew enough about being in charge to realize that it was basically true. He decided to let it go---- for now, at least. "All right, give me two minutes to get ready."

Mason was about to leave when Dixon spoke. "There isn't a person in my unit who trusts Sloane any more then your people. If anything, we trust him less, because we know what he's capable of. You'd do well to remember that, George."

Mason looked out at the floor, his gaze fixed on Sloane. "I find that difficult to believe." he said slowly.

Dixon realized he wasn't going to win this argument--- at least not yet. "Have we heard anything from Jack or Sydney yet?" he asked.

"Not yet." Mason said.

Marshall Flinkman would be the first to admit that he reacted very badly to intense situations--- not a great characteristic for someone who worked for the CIA, but one you could get away with if you weren't in the field. However, he had never been involved in a crisis quite like the one he was in right now, and just to make things more fun, he was going to be reporting to a whole new group of people--- people who had not gone out of their way to be friendly. So he dealt with the situation the only way that he could--- by dealing with the work that was in front of him and not the fact that he was probably in the middle of the blast site for a nuclear weapon.

So when the computer in the background went on, he started to become--- well, like Marshall Flinkman. "Hey, does that mean… does that…"

Paula, the one person at CTU who had gone out of her way to be nice to him replied "He's in. They're on-line. They're checking Jack's background."

"Already?" said Michelle Dessler. Michelle had been working to try and get Bauer's----- or his cover Jack Roush, as it was --- recent parole in the national penal system's database. Unfortunately, it still had at least ten more minutes before it was ready for trained eyes to scan. More unfortunately, Bauer didn't _have _ten minutes.

"Are the arrest records from Gainesville ready?" Paula asked Tony. Supposedly Roush had just done five years up in Florida.

"Not yet. I haven't gotten the clearance codes yet." said Tony.

"Well, we need them right now. These guys are looking for it." said Paula.

"They don't waste any time."

And right now they didn't have any to waste. If it didn't get on line in one minute, these people would know something was up. Unless--- "Get the fax to me now." Marshall said.

Paula looked confused. "Marshall---"

"I can make this work for Bauer but I need you to get the data now!" Marshall hadn't known that he had this kind of attitude in him, but it worked: Paula gave him the keyboard.

Using an old insert-operation that he had used to get records from SD-6 agents years ago, Marshall's fingers danced over the keyboard. In less than thirty seconds, he had an arrest record for Jack Roush that would not bear close scrutiny but probably would get him past these people.

"Come on, come on." He said as he pressed the final sequence of buttons.

Though he would never know, at that exact moment Eddie Stark was taking out a.45 magnum and was about to check the clip when at the man at the computer said: "Hold on. I got it." There was a pause as the man looked at the data. "Yeah, it just took a bit longer for it to come up that I thought."

Maintaining the sense of relief he was feeling, Jack said cool as a cucumber "Told you it would check out."

"Hey, considering how quick we found your girlfriend, you can understand that we were a little concerned." Scott was still ogling Sydney. As long as they weren't looking daggers at Jack, she considered it a blessing.

"Well, now that you've checked our backgrounds, maybe now we can talk to your boss and we can get this party started." Sydney said daringly.

Eddie looked at Jack. "You sure she's a girl, cause she's sure got some stones." he said with a laugh

Jack fixed Sydney with a hard stare. "She's got a point, Eddie. I pass the audition?" he asked.

"Let me make a call." Eddie said, and disappeared back into the garage.

**9:31:22/ 9:31:23/9:31:24/9:31:25**

Vaughn was relieved to know that Sydney and Bauer had managed to at least get in the front door with Wald's crew but other things were beginning to unsettle him. So he had walked over to Weiss' station and decided to share his concerns with his best friend.

"Find anything yet?" he asked.

Weiss shook his head. "There hasn't been any chatter on any of the local cells about this threat."

Vaughn gestured towards Sloane. "Has he presented us with any leads yet?"

"He hasn't said two words to me in the last twenty minutes." Weiss looked towards Mason's office. "I guess Mason's little rant unsettled him more than I thought it would."

"You'd think he have a thicker skin by now."

Weiss gave a small smile. "When was the last time anyone even looked cross-eyed at him? Though I'd be lying if I said I felt a little like doing the wave when I heard that tirade." The smile disappeared. "Of course, the fact that CTU is looking at us like we stank of dead fish doesn't make me feel much happier."

"I know what you mean." Vaughn looked up. "I mean, we worked with some of these people before. And whether or not they like it, we're still all on the same side."

"Three years ago, would you like to have said that you were playing on the same side as Arvin Sloane?" Vaughn didn't answer. "I didn't think so."

"Sydney's gone, her father's out of the picture, Dixon's been sent to Division; does it seem to you like were running out of people to talk with?"

"Well, as Sloane would say, we're not here to talk to them; we're here to stop this bomb." Weiss looked at the screen and then back at Vaughn. "I hope that Bauer's having better luck with Wald. Because we're running out of options."

**9:35:02/9:35:03/9:35:04**

Jack Bauer didn't know about how empty the other resources were getting and at this point he wouldn't have cared. Pursuing this lead was his job, and right now it was looking like the chances of success were very remote. No one was being very friendly and most of them were being downright hostile. This became clear when he tried to open a dialogue with a guy working with some kind of electronic fuse system.

"You're packing it too tight." Jack said as casually as he could manage.

"Who asked your opinion?" the man snapped.

"Whoa, Jack." Eddie had shown up suddenly--- Jack didn't think this was a coincidence. "Trying to make friends?" He put his hand on Jack's shoulder in a gesture that appeared to be friendly but that Jack didn't buy. "Come here."

"Your guy's a moron." Jack said frankly." What did Joe say?"

"Joe's busy. Come back tomorrow."

"Look I just need to talk to him for five minutes."

Eddie gestured towards the technician. "We got this going on. Swing by tomorrow, around four."

Jack didn't like this but he realized it was the only way to play it. "All right, man. See you." He shook hands and walked back to his car.

Sydney looked at Jack, waved and followed behind him.

The second they were outside, Jack speed-dialed CTU.

"Mason."

"It's Jack."

"You get to Wald?"

"No. I'm with his crew. They're shutting me out." He looked around. "George, I think you're gonna have to bring them in."

"Why?"

"They're packing charges. They're definitely involved."

"Look, if we pick them up, are they going to get us to Wald in time?"

Million-dollar question. "I don't know."

"Well, in that case you'd better stick with them until they do. NSA just upgraded their role in the threat. Puts them just a click away from the Second Wave terrorists."

Jack didn't need him to draw a map. "All right. I'll figure something out." He hung up and cursed.

"Let me guess." Sydney said. "We need to get to Wald."

Jack looked at her. An idea was coming to him. "They seemed friendlier to you."

"Of course they did. " Sydney said. "They all want to screw me."

"Can you work with that?" Jack asked.

"I've worked with less." Sydney looked at him. "Stall, keep the car from working something. Give me a few minutes to try and work my magic."

"Mr. Mason., I've got that upload from Division you wanted."

"Thank you, Paula."

George Mason really didn't want to see NSA's read out on the threat because he knew what it was going to say. It was going to be bad, and they hadn't received Jack's latest call. But he was the head of CTU, and the buck stopped here, and all that other bullshit, so---

He typed in his password, and the report was on his screen. It was a long page of text, but his eyes were drawn towards the bottom of the screen, where he new the real bad news was going to be.

_Possibility of Detonation: 89 to 93._

Mason was not by nature an impulsive man. He wasn't anal retentive, but he did toethe party line as much as possible and didn't believe in going out on snipe hunts. And he wasn't a coward either. So when he made his next decision--- a move that could safely be called the worst he ever made--- he never understood what impulse made him do it. All he knew was that he found himself packing his suitcase, taking his glasses and checking his holster. Then he was moving.

Sloane spotted him as he came down the stairs. "George, where the hell are you going?"

"Bakersfield. Following up on a lead. We're shorthanded so I have to cover it myself."

Tony clearly didn't buy this, either. "I thought Peterson was covering Bakersfield."

"NSA pulled him to follow a different lead." George started walking again.

"George, if all you're trying to do is get outside the blast radius---"

Even though there was a grain of truth in that, George was offended. "How dare you say that? Do you have access to my intel?"

"No, but---"

"Then, just do your damn job." He glared at Sloane. "All of you."

And with that he left, without knowing it starting his own death-march.

**9:43:15/9:43:16/9:43:17/9:43:18**

In her years doing undercover work--- whether a double agent or not--- Sydney had occasionally been assigned to play the seductress. Sloane had never told her point blank that she had to sleep with someone in order to gain access--- in his euphemistic way, he had referred to it as 'earning a target's trust'---- and very few of her missions had been long-term enough that she had actually been in a similar position. She could only remember having to actually sleep with a target three times. (Julia Thorne no doubt had to several times, but since she had those two years erased from her memory, she tactfully was omitting them). And she had never had to do it in this compressed a timetable, in this kind of an atmosphere. But she didn't have a choice. They needed to get in with Wald's crew, and they needed to do it now. Fortunately, as Saki had written, improvisation on short notice was one of her strengths.

So Sydney walked back into Atlas' Auto with her sleeves rolled up (figuratively and literally) and with her gun back in Jack's car. She didn't like the idea of going unarmed into a lion's den, but she didn't have much of a choice if she was going to make this work.

Things didn't get off to a good start. "Can I get some help here?" she asked to an empty counter. She needed the place to be empty in order to get his thing to work, but she disliked even temporarily looking like an airhead— even if no one else was around to see it.

She made her way to the back of the garage where Wald's crew was working. One of them was working with something electrical, another was packing something that looked like clay out of a box, and the third guy was working with something at a computer. Sydney would have bet every dollar in her pocket that they were making some kind of bomb. She also knew for damn sure that it had nothing to do with the nuke---- the design was all wrong, and everyone was wearing street clothes. Still, she needed to know more----

"Hey, can a gal get some service here?' she shouted.

None of the crew at work even looked up. Eddie Grant was nowhere in sight either. She did get the attention of the guy--- kid really---- who had been at the counter half an hour ago.

Seeing him look up and smile, se put on her most seductive smile and asked, "Help a lady in distress?"

A strange look came over the kid's face---- it was the look of the fat freshman who can't believe the head cheerleader is talking to him.

"Handle this, Mark," the guy at the computer said.

A look of anxiety came over Mark's face. "Don't you need me to----"

"I said _handle it._" There was just enough menace in the man's voice to make this kid nervous. Clearly, this guy hadn't been with Grant's crew that long

Mark slowly walked with Sydney towards the counter. "Jack can't get the car started, and he's stubborn enough to want to fix it himself," she said with faux good cheer. "So if we want to get out of here, I got to get us a ride. Can I use your phone?"

Disappointment came over Mark's face ---- the head cheerleader just wanted to ask directions. "Uh, sure, just let me get you the phone." Mark slowly reached under the counter ad pulled the phone out.

Sydney looked UP and began to dial a number. "So what's going on back there? They trying to build a better mousetrap?" she asked casually.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it."

The recorded voice was giving the correct time as Sydney looked at Mark. "Not supposed to? What are you, fourteen?"

"Nineteen!" Mark said belligerently. "Look, Scotty recruited me four months ago. He said the people he worked with needed some new blood. Said they were going to take America back." He scowled. "Big talkers! They won't let me _do_anything! All I do is watch the counter!

Had she had more time--- even a few more hours--- she might have tried to turn Mark. He showed every sign of being a willing convert. But she didn't have the time, and it was Jack who needed the in. So with great reluctance, she went on to the next step. "So you haven't seen any action." she remarked nonchalantly. Mark shook his head. "None at all?"

She smiled at that. Mark's guard slipped further.

"In that case," she said with a smile, how'd you like a lube job?"

Sydney thought Mark was loyal enough that he wouldn't give away details of the plan to her. She was gambling that he was young enough not to turn away sex when it came gift-wrapped.

Mark's answer was to lift the segment of the counter that let Syd on to his side.

God bless hormones.

Sydney had just lowered herself below Mark's waist when Jack decided to reveal his presence.

"You son of a bitch!" he yelled. He then proceeded to grab Mark, and try to yank him over the counter hard enough to dislocate the unfortunate young man's shoulder. Jack didn't even look at Mark before he started yelling at Sydney. "I leave you alone for five minutes; you can't keep your legs closed?! God!"

Sydney was saved from further discussion when Grant reentered. "What the fuck did you do, Jack?" he yelled.

Well, part 1 had worked. Now it was time to see if the rest followed.

**9:52:18/9:52:19/9:52:20**

"Agent Almeida?"

Tony turned around to see the other female agent from APO approaching him cautiously. "What is it, Agent Santos?" he asked stiffly.

"It's going to be close quarters today" Nadia said with a small smile. "Call me Nadia."

Nadia couldn't have been more than twenty-five. _How young are we recruiting?_ he thought wryly. "Do you have something for me, Nadia?"

"Maybe. I've been back-tracing some connections on Second Wave. All of our Intel on them is from the Middle East, right?"

Tony nodded. "That's where some of the money trail leads to."

"You haven't found anything connecting them to Eastern Europe?" Nadia asked.

"Next to nothing. Have you found something that would suggest otherwise?"

"I recognize two names. Tomarik Shareef and Alexander Trepkos. Both of them have links to an organization known as the Covenant as well the various terror cells. Most of the people in this unit know how they operate."

Tony considered this. "How does this help us find the bomb?"

"The Covenant uses a lot of American businesses to funnel through money and information." Nadia said. "It's a long shot, but right now---"

"Anything is better than nothing." Tony went to his desk. "Uplink the data to my server and we'll see if we can accelerate the search."

"Sure."

Before Nadia left, Tony asked: "How long have you been with the Agency?"

"Less than three months. Before that I worked in the Argentinean intelligence."

Tony looked surprised. "So why one earth did you agree to work in a unit headed by a scumwad like Sloane?"

He knew the moment he'd said it, he'd made a huge mistake. He didn't realize how huge until she said; "There are a lot of security reasons, but mostly it's because he's my father. The Intel on the Covenant comes from him. I'll get the data to the server."

Before Tony's mouth could form an apology, she had disappeared in a huff.

After Jack finished "chastising" Sydney,He went back to working under the hood..

Eddie followed close behind. "You haven't changed much, have you Jack?" he said.

"What's your point?' Jack said casually.

"Thanks to your thinking with your zipper, I'm now short a man and I'm on a schedule."

Jack slammed the hood down. "I'm looking for work."

"This isn't a job, Jack, you're gonna do this for nothing."

Now that he had them, Jack realized it was important not to seem eager. "My price is a thousand a day, you know that." he said as he got behind the wheel.

"Well Jack, I'd say you owe me a bit more than that considering what you did to Mark." Eddie crossed his arms. "You do this, I won't tell what happened to Joe. Don't do this, and you'll be too busy looking over your shoulder to find work."

This was as close as an invitation as he was likely to get. He opened the door, looked around nonchalantly and asked: "What's the job?"

Eddie clapped him on the back. "You're gonna love it."

Scott---- the guy who had been working the computer---- looked at Sydney. "If we weren't in such a hurry, I'd make sure spent the next month wearing sunglasses and long-sleeves." he said angrily. "But we have things to do, so it's your lucky day."

"Your compassion is overwhelming." Sydney said harshly.

Scott gave a look that would have made a lesser woman cringe. "Get out here. Forget Jack showed you this place." he scowled. "Or I'll do to you what Jack did to Goren."

Sydney barely heard that last part---- she was trying to get a last look at the van Grant and the other had finished loading. She wanted to have every detail memorized when she got on the phone to Mason in five minutes.

Scott was grabbing her roughly by the wrist before she pulled it away "I can find the door." she said and left without another word.

She hoped that this van led them to Wald, but she was no longer certain it would. Whatever Wald's crew was up to was bad news. She just didn't know for whom.

Jack knew that something bad was coming but he didn't realize the magnitude until the van was in motion and he learned they were heading to West LA."

"What's the job?"

Eddie laughed. "It's a conversion. Today we're turning a government building into a cemetery."

Jack gave a laugh of his own. "What building?" Ice shot through his veins when he got the answer.

"Branch that's been dogging us for years. Counter Terrorist Unit." Eddie chortled. "CTU."

**9:59:57/9:59:58/9:59:59/10:00:00**


	3. 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM

Chapter 3

**The Following takes place between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM**

There were a lot of ironies about this day that George Mason would never learn about. However, the ones he did learn were grim enough. The first was that he would never follow up on the lead that he had claimed to go out for. He was still a good twenty minutes from Bakersfield when his phone rang.

"George, this is Tony. How far out of the city are you?"

"Why?"

"I just got off the line with Steve Lauler from District."

"About what?"

Tony wasn't thrilled about this either. "LAPD made a possible match with a vehicle on our watch list. He needs somebody to check it out.

"LAPD made a match? Come on.'

"Well, Lauler doesn't trust their judgment either. That's why he wants you there." George was sure Tony deliberately paused before continuing. "Besides, he knows it's on your way to Bakersfield. I know you're going there to follow up on a lead, but Lauler wants this checked out."

George disliked Lauler immensely but also knew better than to mess with a superior's request. And if he did survive the day—nuclear blast or not— he'd still like his job. And if the bomb did go off, he wanted every last report about him to be positive."What's the address?" he said resignedly.

Sydney knew that tracking Wald's crew was going to be difficult. They were already on high alert for whatever job they were doing, and if she tried to track them by visual surveillance, they would probably kill Bauer. So she'd have to use some of her magic, which meant----

"CTU, Marshall."

"Marshall, it's Sydney."

"Syd, hey, I guess this means that you and Bauer passed your audition with Wald's crew!"

"Yes and no. They bought Bauer; me they're not so crazy about. He and I got separated, and right now he and Wald's crew are off to do some dirty work."

"Um--- does that mean you've found the--- the nuke?"

"Not even close, Marshall. They're up to something hinky. I just don't know what, and unless I can find Bauer, we have no idea what our next move is. That's why I called."

"What do you need?" Marshall's voice had become business-like.

"I don't suppose that you were able to place any kind of tracking device on Bauer?" Sydney asked.

"No. Guy was really touchy. After he got suited up, he insisted on no wires or electronics. I got to tell you, Syd, on a more, um, personal note, Jack Bauer kind of creeps me out a little."

For Marshall to admit something like this was big. Though he had often acted nervous around Sloane and Sydney's father, he managed to usually cover it with his nervous wit. To openly admit his concerns meant he was fundamentally unsettled…She pondered it for a split second. Marshall knew Arvin Sloane, knew his resume as intimately as she did, and knew precisely how evil he was. With Bauer, Marshall knew nothing, and still Jack scared him—so, either Marshall was just better with the devil he knew, or he may have had a better sense of who was the more dangerous.

"We'll worry about that later." Sydney reassured her friend. "Right now, I need to use the satellite system and communications webs to track a vehicle. Gray Ford van, three doors, California plates, license number TZM-64J9. Last seen leaving Atlas's Auto Repair headed west, approximately----" Syd checked her watch "---five minutes ago."

"Got it." Sydney had never been more grateful for Marshall's photographic memory. "How are you going to be tracking Bauer?"

"I'll be using the Ford Escalade we left at the just outside of the garage. Obviously, I can't track Bauer that closely, so I'm going to need the best alternate route available."

"Copy that."

"I don't care what spy cameras you have to look through or traffic laws you have to break, Marshall" Sydney said earnestly "just keep an eye on Bauer. And make sure Mason gets all this."

"Actually, Director Mason's out of the office now. But I'll update Mr. Almeida and Mr.---"

Marshall's voice was suddenly cut-off by a buzz of static. "Marshall, did you get that?" Sydney could hear someone talking but it was barely audible.

Back at CTU, the place was in chaos. "Something's wrong with my phone." Marshall said

"Mine too." said Tony Almeida, hanging up.

"I know." said Paula. "I tried a filter and I can't get rid of it. It may not be our systems.

Tony looked at her. "If the city of Los Angeles is going to be nuked all because of the phone company, I want a nasty letter drafted to AT&T before we go." Almeida sighed "Today of all days…All right. Call the phone company and switch all protocol calls to wireless."

**10:07:15/10:07:16/10:07:17**

Jack Bauer could have told the people at CTU what had happened to their phone. Scotty, who seemed to be the technical guy, was screwing around with one of the power settings a few miles away from the unit.

"Trying to shut off their phone lines?" Jack asked casually.

Scotty, who clearly distrusted him, didn't answer. Eddie did. "Just enough to make them call the phone company. Have them send out a crew." He looked at Jack for a moment. "Why don't you head up the road? Keep an eye out for anybody?"

Jack knew he was on thin ice with these people but he didn't care about this right now, so he said 'No problem" and starting slowly walking back towards the van.

The second he was out of Eddie's line of sight, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed CTU. Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever Sam was doing to the phones was already working; all that he could get when they picked up was a blast of static. "Hello? Is this CTU?" After several seconds of static, he gave up. "Damn it!" he said.

Now he regretted not having gotten Bristow's cell number. It was a rookie mistake, but the truth was he had all but ignored Bristow at the garage. He had resented being put in such a situation, and he had let his resentment get the better of him. But he had no time for recriminations. Knowing every second counted, he dialed the other number that he had been given.

"Northwest Regional." said a female voice.

"I need to speak with the President."

"Who is this?"

"My name is Jack Bauer. Clearance number is 8119A. I need to speak with the President _now._"

"Please hold."

"Don't put_**-**_--" The link clicked. Precious seconds went by before another voice answered the phone.

"This is Lynn Kresge."

"I need to speak with the President." Jack said urgently.

"The President's with the press corps right now."

Jack would have argued this more but he saw Eddie was starting to move. He moved to the side of the car and talked faster. "Listen carefully. CTU phone lines are down. I need you to get them an urgent message. CTU Los Angeles is going to be blown up within the hour. Wald's group is doing it. It is not the nuke. But you need to evacuate CTU and to alert a bomb squad. There are at least three**_---" _**

"Jack----"

Suddenly Jack saw Eddie walking around the van. He pulled his phone from his ear, hung up and put it in his jacket mere seconds before he saw him.

"We're done." Eddie said simply, and pulled the doors open.

Jack hoped like hell Kresge had gotten enough of the message. He had no idea what struggles were going on at the seat of power.

He had no way of knowing that Eric Raeburn, the head of NSA would intercept Kresge before she could inform the President. No way of knowing that Raeburn would decide that because of his concern that Bauer would be exposed to Wald's crew, thus stopping him from getting to the nuke, that Raeburn would unilaterally decide not to inform President David Palmer.

He had no idea that the lives of everyone at CTU had suddenly been classified by the NSA as acceptable collateral damage.

**10:13:48/10:13:49/10:13:50/10:13:51**

Nadia hadn't been in the women's room that long before she heard the door open. She didn't look up from the sink. "Have they got the phones working yet?" she asked.

"Not for lAck of trying." said Michelle. She walked over to the sink "Your tech guy, Marshall? He's busy trying to redirect the communications from the FBI server." She smiled. "The second Paula heard that she told Marshall that she might be able to use two of the nearby satellites to get us back the full speed. I only understand every third word there saying, but they can probably get our phones working soon enough if we gave them enough time and memory." She splashed some water on her face

This did make Nadia smile. "I'm not surprised. Marshall's one of the best techs I've met." she said. "Give him the right material, he could probably figure out that whole cold fusion thing." The smile faded. "Everyone at APO is good at their jobs."

"Look, I realize we haven't exactly welcomed you with open arms--"Michelle began

"It's more than that. At least for me." Nadia paused, and then seemed to ask a random question. "Do you love your parents?"

Michelle blinked. "I'm not sure I follow you."

"I grew up as a ward of the state." Nadia said. "I didn't have the best childhood, I went through a lot of foster care and juvenile homes, and I didn't have a clue as to who my parents were. I thought that they must love me, and that there had to be some reason that they left me behind. When I started working for intelligence out of Buenos Aires, part of me kept hoping against hope that I'd be able to find them and learn why." She swallowed. "You imagine my shock when I find the sister I never I knew I had and I learn that both my mother and my father are both terrorists."

Michelle knew who Sydney Bristow's mother was. She had also overheard Tony's talk with Nadia "Your mother is**_--"_**

A bitter smile crossed Nadia's face. "If there's something to heredity, I am really screwed. " Nadia turned to Michelle. "Miss Dessler, I'm not blind." she said. "My father has done some unforgivable things. To this country, to the people in this unit--- to me. But I believe--- I have to believe--- that he has reformed, that he is a changed man. Not only to work with him, but because I need to love my father. I know how maudlin that must sound, and how potentially dangerous, but still---"

"I understand." Michelle walked over and put her hand on her shoulder. "And it's Michelle."

Nadia looked up. "My father is not a nice man, Michelle, but he doesn't want this weapon to be detonated any more than you do. I believe he can help us."

As much as Michelle felt for Nadia's situation, it would take a lot more than a daughter's love to convince herthat Sloane was playing on the level. She did, however, think his daughter could be trusted-- untilthere was evidence to the contrary. In this case, that last thought wasn't personal, just a matter of experience (she had read the file on Nina Meyers). "Well, let's go back to work; see if any of those leads have panned out into anything yet."

As Nadia and Michelle left the woman's room, they came out to find that something was going down. Paula had left her station and was walking towards Marshall's desk. Tony was walking around looking steamed.

"What's going on? We find anything?" Michelle asked.

Tony shook his head. "That asshole Raeburn called and said he wants us to copy all our data on the nuclear threat to the NSA server."

Vaughn, from a nearby station, looked up. "They give a reason?"

"They say that it's just precautionary, but they want it done now."

"When is now?" asked Nadia.

"By 11."

"11?" Michelle frowned. "That's a three hour job."

"I know. I told him that." Tony was scowling now. "He told me that I'd better get started."

Marshall came running over to him. "Um, Mr. Almeida, I think that Paula and I can get the phones working if you just let us run the satellites----"

"Marshall, I'm going to need you to drop this for now. I need you and Paula to sort and send data to the NSA server. Everything we have related to the nuke."

Marshall seemed a little put off by this. "Okay, but you do know we'll have to work up a whole new encryption code, and you know that kind of thing could take a couple of hours--"

"Marshall, you have forty minutes." Tony said flatly.

This only slowed Marshall for a couple of seconds. "Okay, it's not like I don't like a challenge, but really that kind of is pressing it a bit. I mean, I can probably do it, but----"

"Marshall, maybe you better get going." Vaughn said gently.

"Okay, um, sure. Thank you." Marshall scurried off.

Tony watched him move away, then glanced to Vaughn. "Doesn't he have a 'slow' setting?"

"By the time this day is over, you'll be glad he doesn't." Vaughn said with a smile. "What the hell is going on here? First, the phones, now NSA wants all the data on the bomb."

"They said it was precautionary." Tony said.

"Then wouldn't they do it for every agency?" Michelle asked.

Tony thought this over. "Call Dixon up at Division. See if something hinky is going on."

When Mason found the address, there was an LAPD cruiser and four men in uniform waiting for him. He got out of his sedan and introduced himself as CTU to the cops.

"Sergeant Ryan, LAPD." The sergeant gestured to a younger officer. "Barber here made a vehicle match from the alert you put out this morning."

George looked at the building. Aside from the fact that it was some kind of storage unit, there wasn't anything remarkable about the place. "Have you checked inside yet?"

"We were about to, but our captain made us stand down until you got here." Mason could sense the resentment in Ryan's voice.

"Relax sergeant. I want to be here even less then you want me to be here." He looked at one of the officer, holding a saw.

Seeing his approval, the officer used his saw to cut through the lock holding the roll-down door closed. It took less than thirty seconds--- apparently whoever was here didn't seem to care much for security.

George took out his gun, nodded and the two officers rolled the door up. A few seconds later, he and Sergeant Ryan ducked under the door.

All that was immediately visible inside the shed were boxes and containers. The place seemed deserted but Mason wasn't convinced it was. He was therefore pissed when one of the younger officers shouted: "Hello?" Mason rolled his eyes as the sergeant gestured that quiet _might_ be desired for this kind of work.

They walked further into the unit, flashlights on because there didn't seem to be any power in this structure. Eventually, they reached something that wasn't boxes stacked on top of each other. "What the hell?" George muttered.

There was some kind of line of doors about twenty feet ahead of them. It looked benign, but there was some kind of greenish glow emanating from it----- never a good sign. He and the officers cautiously approached the doors.

One of the officers gently pulled back on one of them. They approached a glass structure where the glow was coming from. Mason was the first man there, and was therefore the first man to see the dead man lying a few feet from the structure. He also saw the sign on the structure--- with a radiation symbol on it.

Suddenly, a man appeared and he was firing an automatic weapon. The officer next to Mason was hit and George hit the ground. The stream of bullets also hit the glass and it shattered, dust streaming out of it. The man came a few more feet before one of the other cops took him out.

"You okay?' Ryan yelled out.

"There's a man down in here." Mason said, starting to get to his feet. Then he saw the sign that said 'DANGER--- RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL.'

And he saw the dust that was not dust blowing around him.

"Get out of the building." When he saw Ryan hesitate, he yelled:** "**_Get out of the building. _Call Hazmat. Get them to set up quarantine. I think we've got a hot zone here!"

He got to feet, and then saw what might have been a container of radioactive residue a few feet away. He pulled out a handkerchief, praying desperately that he hadn't inhaled too much of it.

**10:26:44/10:26:45/10:26:46**

Dixon's hope that things would be easier when he got to Division had dried up when he learned that he was going to be working with Ryan Chapelle. He had worked with the man a couple of times before and found him to be one of the most annoying pricks he had the displeasure of knowing. It wasn't that Chapelle was a bad man; it was that he was the quintessential bureaucrat, more concerned with procedure being followed than positive results.

This had become clear when Chapelle had told Dixon that he was going to be working on evacuation protocols and target readiness. Doing this when they had no idea where the bomb was putting the cart rather substantially before the horse, but when Dixon had pointed this out to Chapelle, he had fixed with an intractable glance and told him to follow protocol or he'd send him home.

As it was, he had no time to follow these particular protocols before receiving a series of calls. The first was from Sydney, who was contacting Dixon because she couldn't raise anyone at CTU. While admitting this was a concern, it wasn't her main problem.

Bauer had infiltrated Wald's crew. Unfortunately, in order to do so Syd had to get out of the picture. She had been attempting to track Bauer by using satellite imagery when she had been cut off. She had Dixon to call someone at LAPD and get access to their traffic cameras. This kind of thing wasn't Division protocol, but Dixon hadn't hesitated to do it.

The second call was from Vaughn, basically telling him the same thing Sydney had five minutes earlier. This had raised a very important question.

"What the hell are you using to contact me?" Dixon asked.

"Sloane's phone." Vaughn said. "And don't think that hasn't knocked the comfort level down a notch. Tony's holding it like it was a small bomb."

"Well, Marshall did design it." Dixon said facetiously. "That might have been an extra setting."

"Good point." Vaughn said. "In any case, we've hit another snag. Raeburn from NSA called and demanded we upload all the data on the bomb onto their server in thirty minutes."

"They give any reason why they want it done that fast?"

"They say it was just to consolidate information, but I've got a feeling they're not telling us something. Can you check with Chapelle and see if we're just being paranoid?" Vaughn asked

"I'll look into it right away. By the way, you've got to reestablish contact with Sydney; she's trying to keep tabs on Bauer."

"I'll handle it."

Unfortunately, Dixon then turned around to see Chapelle walking up to him looking pissed--- an expression that Dixon was pretty sure was one of only three that the Division head had.

"What the hell are you doing wasting Division resources on looking through the LAPD traffic camera?" Chapelle demanded.

Dixon had Arvin Sloane for a boss--- this kind of bluster barely upset him. "I'm using their camera to try and track down where Joseph Wald's crew is heading "he said angrily. "And the only reason I'm wasting our resources is because right now Sydney Bristow can't keep in touch with CTU because their landlines are scrambled. "

"That's their problem." Chapelle snapped.

"If it keeps us from finding the nuke, it's _our _problem." Dixon countered. "You want to piss and moan over this or do want us to get the job done?"

Chapelle was the type who was never wrong, even when he was. His reaction was to change the subject. "Right now, we have a more pressing concern." he told Dixon. "I just got a call from George Mason. That lead we found in Panorama City turned out to have legsand so far it just kicked the ass of the LAPD."

As it turned out, at that very moment George Mason was in the hot zone, simultaneously disrobing and debriefing.

"Looks like the lead in the city turned out to be the real thing." he said to Tony as he took off his tie. "Some kind of lab where they may have assembled the nuke."

"Based on what?" asked Tony.

"They found radioactive material." Mason took off his jacket.

"What kind of radioactive material?"

Mason removed his shoes. "They're still doing field analysis."

"Was anyone exposed?"

At that moment one of the Hazmat men pointed to his watch. Sighing, he took it off before he spoke again. "They're putting us through Decon now. Purely precautionary."

_Attaboy George. Sound like you're not scared shitless._ He ignored the internal voice and went on. "Look, we got three dead bodies. I'm gonna send you photos and fingerprints on them. See if they show up on our watch list."

He began to take off his pants. One of the Hazmat people told him he'd have to dump his phone. "Look Tony I'm gonna have to get back to you."

"George, we got a call from NSA. They told us to send them all of our case analysis. Now I've got Paula on it now, but I've got a feeling they're keeping us out of the loop on something."

"It's standard procedure for all agencies to consolidate information." George said as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"That's just it. We're the only agency they've asked."

"Sir, the phone." said the man in the radiation suit. George grimaced at this double irritation.

"Look, call Chapelle at Division and see if he can find anything. I gotta go." he said as he through his shirt in the bag.

"George, are you sure you're okay?" Some concern finally seeped into Tony's voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." George hung up before Tony could press anymore. He threw his phone in the bag.

"I need all your clothes, sir." said the Hazmat man.

"You're not even gonna buy me dinner?" George managed to joke as he threw his shorts in the bag.

Then he stepped up to get hosed down, hoping that this wouldn't be the equivalent of bandaging a bullet wound.

**10:37:38/10:37:39/10:37:40/10:37:41**

For the purpose of Wald's crew, everything was moving very efficiently. After the phone company had arrived, it had been simple to kill one worker, take the survivor hostage, and use him and his van to infiltrate the CTU parking garage in less than twenty minutes. Five minutes earlier they had left him alone with their hostage, and headed for the CTU elevator. Given what he had seen on the drive over, it would take them fifteen minutes to plant the explosives. That gave him less than ten minutes to go through the map they had left behind, figure out where they would plant the bomb and get word to Mason. (Because Scotty had kept his eyes on Jack since they got in the van, he hadn't even been able to send a text message to CTU. Now, even if the phones worked the signal would never penetrate the concretethe garage.)

As he looked through the map he realized something that, in its own way, could be just as a big a problem. This wasn't a roughly drawn map; it was a professional level blueprint. Only someone in the Agency could have gotten access to it.

Jack wasn't sure if things could get much worse.

--

After a protracted delay, Sydney was now on the move again. Dixon had come through for her on satellites and she had been able to track Grant's van further west. At least, she had been until she found the vehicle sitting empty at one of the city's minor communications grid. Clearly they had switched automobiles at least half an hour ago.

Sydney knew that they were planning to bomb somewhere, but Grant and his crew wouldn't have gone to all this trouble just to knock the phone lines out. But the communication grid was a good three minutes away from any major traffic light, and with no idea what kind of car they had switched to or what direction they were headed in, she had no idea where to look. So where exactly did that leave her? More importantly, where did that leave Bauer?

She decided right now, her best option was to report in to Mason or Sloane, depending on who was back in the office.

She took out her cell and began to dial. Three digits in, it hit her. CTU was less than five minutes from here, and half an hour she hadn't been able to get through to them because their communications had been down. _CTU was the target! _The bomb could go off at any moment!

Without thinking, Sydney hit an autodial on her phone that would connect her with Arvin Sloane's cell. He had a special phone that had he was equipped with a shifting-algorithm descrambler that Marshall had designed. It would work even if every other phone was out of operation.

Unfortunately, she only got his voicemail. "Shit!" Sydney swore. Of course the line was busy. If the communications grid had been tampered with, Sloane now had the only working phone. Everybody and his uncle were going to be using it.

No time to worry about it. "This is Sydney. Eddie Grant and his crew havebeen tampering with the communications grid. They are going to detonate a high-level non-nuclear bomb of CTU. Tell Mason to lockdown the unit now! This may be our only shot at stopping them."

Once Sydney had hung up, she realized that Wald's crew could be coming back here any minute, and she had to make sure Bauer maintained his cover.

She all but leaped back into her car. The second she got out of the sight of the automobile she was going to speed-dial Marshall. Bauer's cover had to be maintained but not at that cost of the lives of everybody in that building. There had to be a way to do it, and Marshall might be their only hope.

**10:44:30/10:44:31/10:44:32**

"Mr. Almeida." Sloane had recovered enough from his dressing-down to do his job, but he seemed to have realized the thinness of the ice he was on.

"What is it, Sloane?"

The man ignored the hostility in Tony's voice. "I believe we may have a lead."

"What's your intel?" he asked briskly.

"While going over the background of the regional cells, we found some billing records that seem to run back to a company called Warner Enterprises. They're an industrial firm centered in LA that has several major weapons contractors as its clientele. Several of the companies do business with three nations that support Second Wave. And there are records of transactions between them and a known hostile named Syed Ali."

"Ali's been on our watch-list for sometime." Tony admitted. "You think he's connected to this?"

"I'm not sure, Mr. Almeida. I'd like to send a couple of agents into the field, and it's been made clear to me that I'm just a figurehead, I think you had better give the go-ahead."

"I don't make policy, Sloane. "

"No, of course not, you just carry it out. That's a very nice defense. I'm sure many of my people would use the same excuse."

Tony's mind virtually jammed with the amount of replies to that snide comment. Before he could answer, Sloane said, "I'll send out my people." Sloane left.

Vaughn heard this last exchange. "He has a way of making you seem wrong, even when you're right." he said.

"Well, you would know." Tony was going to leave on that line.

"Damn it, Tony, you don't have to be like this!" Vaughn said. "The government pays my salary the same as you. We don't want this fucking nuke to go off either!"

"I know that" Tony admitted.

"Then what's with the goddamned chip on your shoulder?"

"You know what the problem is. Four years ago I helped bust the door in on the Alliance! You give the briefing that Sloane is an enemy of this government. Now I can theoretically get my head around the government giving Sloane a pass, Christ knows we do it more often than we should. But you---" Tony shook his head "---how the hell can you work so hard to break a man, and then go into the same office and take orders from him? Explain that!!"

"It's complicated. " Vaughn started.

"Not really." Tony countered. "I know that things are gray a lot of the time on this job, but Sloane--- Sloane is as black and white as it gets."

Tony had no idea how Vaughn would have responded to that, and he never got one because Marshall chose just that moment to run up to them.

"Mr. Sl--- Mr. Alme--- Mr. Sloa----"The poor tech clearly was torn between his old loyalties and the reality of his assignment.

Sloane, of all people, decided to take Marshall off the hook. "What is it, Marshall?" he asked.

"I was going over to Mason's office to help Paula with the new encryption code, um, by the way, is there anyway that NSA could maybe give us another thirty minutes, cause then it will be up, and those people'll off our---"

"Marshall." Sloane said, almost gently.

Instantly Marshall sobered up. "Syd called. She knows where Wald's crew was going." he said.

"Where?" Tony demanded.

"Here'." Marshall said. "She thinks that Wald's people screwed around with the phones so that they could access CTU."

Michelle heard this. "The workers from the phone company." She said.

"Are they still in the building?" Vaughn said.

"We have to lock the place down."

The agents got into lockdown positions. Unfortunately for everybody concerned, Eddie Grant and his people had walked out of building a full ninety seconds ago--- just long enough for them to get out the door.

Even more unfortunately, they had done what they had come there to do.

**10:51:40/10:51:41/10:51:42/10:51:43**

"Is there any sign of them?" Weiss asked Tony.

"No" Tony said resignedly. "And we don't have the time to look for them now. We need to order an evacuation of CTU now."

"Shouldn't we even try to find the bomb?"

"There isn't enough time." Tony was angrier about this then the others. "When this is over, I'm going to have Raeburn's ass for this!" He looked to Michelle. "This is why NSA wanted us to download all our information on the nuke. They knew this was coming." Tony spoke with the anger of someone who has learned something too little and too late. "Order the evacuation, right now."

Michelle hit the alarm and started telling people to get out of the building. At that second, the phone rang. "Almeida." He snapped as he picked it up.

"This is Lynn Kresge, Special Assistant to the President. I have an urgent message for CTU."

_Now everybody wants to warn us._ Tony thought to himself. _Where the fuck was they when we needed them?_ "Too little, too late, ma'am," he said, his marine training holding him back from unleashing his full vocabulary on her. "We know."

"**E**veryone quickly move towards the exit. Leave your valuables behind." Michelle Dessler was saying as people began leaving their desks.

Sloane came up to some of the junior agents who hadn't gotten the message. "There's some kind of bomb in the building. Everyone here needs to leave now."

Sloane sounded about as forceful as he ever did. It was enough to get the APO agents up and moving--- except for one.

"Marshall, we need to go." Sloane said to the tech.

"But I haven't finished helping Paula with the encryption key---" he said.

Sloane pushed Marshall to his feet. "We can't worry about that now." He said as he and Weiss began pushing him out.

"B—but, all the data on the nukes on the computer." Marshall continued to protest even as they reached the exit. "If we don't get the data out----"

And then the world exploded.

Dixon stared at the computer screen where information had been coming from CTU not five minutes earlier. A single message was flashing on the screen.

SERVER NOT RESPONDING

"My God." Dixon said. "They hit it. The bastards hit us."

Almost without thinking, he began to put things in the same suitcase he had unpacked less than an hour ago. This did not escape the notice of Chapelle.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said in a voice that was shaken but still indifferent.

"I've got to get back to CTU. They're going to need all hands on deck."

"We've already sent out a rescue team. We've got people from most of the major disaster relief efforts." Chapelle said. "They'll have it covered, Marcus. What can you do that they can't?"

Dixon looked at Chapelle as if he'd grown an extra head. "My friends are all at CTU, _Ryan. _I want to see if they're still alive!"

"Marcus, with our primary unit hit, we need everybody who's still active working on finding the nuke. We're going to expend all resources trying to get back on track, and right now I need you to coordinate the rescue efforts from here."

Intellectually, Dixon knew this made sense. Emotionally, he was having trouble getting his head around it. "I can do more for CTU from there." he said weakly.

"You're honestly saying you could stay focused if they started pulling your friends corpses out of the rubble?" Chapelle's voice softened a little. "I realize where you're coming from, but I can't lose any more people."

Dixon had forgotten Chapelle could be pretty ruthless himself. Nevertheless, he had a point. So he went back to his station and sat down, feeling like he was trying to stuff his guts back into his chest.

--

Eddie had gotten the van far enough away from CTU that when the blast came, the explosion was only faintly audible and the tremor mild. Even from a distance, though, you could the smoke spiraling out of the building.

"**We did** it." Eddie said as he slapped Scotty and the other man on the back. He came over to Jack and punched him in the shoulder.

"Great job, man." Jack managed to sound like he didn't **care. Inside**, however, he felt as if an explosion had gone off in him.

--

George Mason didn't know about the blast at CTU. Something as devastating was about to hit him

The Hazmat doctor **h**ad finished his examination. "You're clean." he said.

George knew that there was bad news in the tone. "Then why so grim?" he asked.

"The field tests came back. The substance that you inhaled was plutonium. And based on the particle size, the atmosphere dispersion---"

George didn't want to hear it but knew he had to. "Cut to the chase."

"Your radiation level is high." The doctor looked at him. "Definitely lethal."

George managed not to stammer. "How much time do I have?"

"Could be as much as a week." the doctor said. "Or as little as a day."

George managed to remain stoic, even as he realized that he was the first fatality of the nuke.

**10:59:57/10:59:58/10:59:59/11:00:00**


	4. 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Chapter 4

**The Following takes place between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM**

"Michael! Michael!"

Had he lost consciousness? Vaughn had no idea. All he could remember was making his way towards the CTU exit. Then there had been a huge blast and----

"Vaughn, can you hear me?"

There was a ringing sound in his ears, but it wasn't bad enough that he couldn't recognize the voice. "I'm okay, Nadia" he managed to say.

"Can you stand up?" she asked.

For a moment Vaughn wasn't sure that he could. Then he managed to slowly rise to his feet. Nadia offered her arm to steady him, but he was able to maintain his balance.

Then he got his first look at what Wald's crew had wrought.

Vaughn had seen some pretty impressive sites of destruction over his relatively short career in the Agency, not only on foreign soil but on more than one occasion in Los Angeles. Yet not even the seizure of SD-6 prepared him for what was happening at CTU. There was broken glass and fallen debris everywhere. Computer screens were shattered and electrical fixtures covered with blood were all over the floor. In some sections, the ceiling had caved in, leaving one area with nothing but a large pile of debris. The dead were being pulled from the rubble. Those who were standing had at least some kind of gash on their faces and seemed to be walking on broken bones. CTU no longer looked like a branch of the CIA; it looked like Ground Zero.

"How many people--- where is everybody?" Vaughn asked.

Nadia didn't even ask him to clarify who he meant by "everybody"—the APO team. She finally helped him to his feet."I don't know. You were the person I found first." Nadia looked around, through the dust and the smoke. "Can you walk on your own? We have to help the others."

"I think so." Vaughn looked at himself. He had a lot of cuts and bruises, but he didn't see anything major. He then looked to his left and saw a severed arm lying less than three feet from him. Five feet away was the corpse it belonged to. It was the only body lying near him. But hadn't he been walking with somebody---

"Marshall!" Vaughn yelled. He began scanning the area, trying to find a familiar face in the wreckage. Soon he found one.

"Somebody get me a gurney!" Tony was yelling as he stood over a man who was lying under some loose debris. A large hunk of glass was hanging precariously over the man.

Vaughn and Nadia ran over to help. "Get on either side of him." Tony ordered. As they did so, Tony stood over one of the larger hunks of rubble. "Now when I lift this up, the two of you pull." Both APO agents nodded. "Count of three. One, two, three!"

Tony managed to move the chunk of stone enough so that Nadia and Vaughn could yank the man free. The second he was clear of the ruins, the two agents checked his vitals. They were thready but there.

"We need some help!"

Vaughn recognized the voice. "Marshall!" He looked around. There, near the staircase that led to Mason's office, was the APO tech. He was kneeling over another familiar face.

"Come on, Paula, stay with me." Marshall was speaking in a more broken voice then usual. There was good reason for this --- Paula was covered with a huge pile of cement, her face shock-white, a lot of her blood on the ground.

Even as Vaughn ran over to Paula, he kept glancing about looking for familiar faces. Where were Weiss, and Michelle, and Sloane? Were they lying dead under the metal and glass?

How many of them were still alive?

**11:04:55/11:04:56/11:04:57**

"Everything in the car I had moved into the ambulance" the paramedic told George Mason. "So when you're ready to go to the hospital---"

George was still feeling incredibly numb, which had to have been the reason he asked the question: "How's it gonna happen?"

"Excuse me?"

"You'd said I'll probably be dead by tomorrow; I'm just curious to know what to expect for the rest of the day." At this point, it really was just curiosity.

The paramedic only hesitated momentarily. "Even in the most extreme cases, there's a latent period when you'll be asymptomatic. It can last up to twelve hours. How do you feel now?"

All he said aloud was:"Feel like I'm gonna puke."

"I can give you medication to control the nausea."

_Like I thought, bandages for the severed arms._ "Thanks."

"At least until you become more symptomatic."

"What are the symptoms?" Mason asked calmly.

"Your hair will start to fall out."

Despite himself Mason laughed. "I'm used to that."

"You'll develop skin lesions, bleeding from the mouth and nose."

_Million-dollar question._ "How am I going to die?"

The paramedic was only momentarily uncomfortable. "Your mental functions will deteriorate, massive internal hemorrhaging will occur, you'll lapse into a coma---"

A cop came over. "Mr. Mason."

"Not now." said the paramedic.

"It's someone from your office."

Now the paramedic was pissed. "I said not---

"He says it's urgent."

"It's ok." Mason took the phone. What the hell, Tony's bitching about NSA might be distracting for a couple of minutes. "This is Mason."

"They hit us, George" Tony Almeida said without preamble. "They bombed CTU."

George suddenly snapped out of the numbness. His posture changed—even his shoulders straightened. "What kind of damage?"

"Reports are still coming in, but we've got nineteen dead, twenty injured, and seven missing." Even in the background George could hear screaming. "Look, we're bleeding pretty bad. All our intel on the nuke was destroyed. I mean, it's on the NSA server, but Paula never finished with the decryption code and she's in pretty bad shape."

"Well, you do whatever you have to retrieve it." Without realizing it George was talking like the Director of CTU again.

"Yeah, well that's why I called you. Chain of command, remember?" Tony was starting to sound pissed.

"Call NSA's server. Get them on."

"Yeah, I already did. Look, when are you coming back here?"

Suddenly reality hit George again. "I'm not sure." he said honestly.

"Well, the sooner the better."

_He's really not gonna like this._ "Actually, I may not be coming back."

"What?!" Now Tony was furious. "Why the hell not?"

Suddenly the fact that he was dying seemed a real shitty excuse. "Because I may not be in a position to come back." he said lamely.

George could almostsee Tony's lips forming the obscenity. "What? George, a nuclear device is going to go off today, and we've just lost half the people who had a chance of stopping it, so don't tell me you're still trying to cover your own ass!"

_He thinks I'm trying to lay this on him. Under other circumstances this would be funny_. "Look, just deal with it, Tony. Just deal with it." He didn't think he'd ever sounded so pitiful.

"Yeah right." Tony hung up in a huff.

Only after he was off the phone did George realize that for a moment he'd forgotten he was going to die.

**11:10:38/11:10:39/11:10:40/11:10:41**

As they drove into the quarry Jack knew what was going to happen next. Wald's crew was going to torch the van and Eddie was going to call Wald and tell him that the mission had been a success. This was his chance to act

So when Eddie got out of the van and told Jack to come with him, he did. Jack could feel his muscles subconsciously tightening as he prepared to make his move.

"Joe? It's done." Eddie said into his cell phone. "No, not a thing." He paused. "Sure. Just wait a second." Eddie took out a matchbook and a pen. "Give me the address." He wrote something down. "Yeah, I know where it is. I'll be there in ten minutes. Yeah. Out." Eddie hung up the phone.

"That Joe?" Jack asked casually.

"Yep." Eddie ducked behind the wheel of the car that had been waiting for him.

When he looked up, Jack was holding a gun on him. "Give me the matchbook, Eddie." Jack said calmly.

Eddie seemed to be having trouble processing this. "What the hell is this?"

"I'm a federal agent. _Give me the matchbook, Eddie_."

As he put the matchbook down, Eddie seemed to be having trouble grasping the concept. "You helped plant those bombs and cut off Goren's head." he said coolly.

Jack's eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on the pistol grip. "And now I'll have Wald's address.Now put your left hand on the steering wheel and with your right hand give me your gun."

Eddie did the first part of what he was told. As he started to reach for his gun, he said casually: "You know when Joe finds out you did this, you're a dead man."

"Shut up and get out of the car," Jack answered, his voice tightening.

Eddie was a cool customer and did what he was told. His colleagues, however, hadn't forgotten their comrade, and the instant Jack stood up with Eddie's gun, they started firing.

Jack hadn't been in the field for a year, but how to handle yourself in a gun fight is not a skill easily lost. He whirled around and began to run, firing on Eddie's henchmen as he did. One of them was holding an automatic weapon and got off half-a-dozen shots before Jack could return fire.

When Jack returned fire, he hit was he was aiming at.It took him seven bullets but he managed to kill both gunmen in less than thirty seconds.

Unfortunately for Jack, those same thirty seconds gave Eddie Grant more than sufficient time to get behind the wheel of his car and start driving toward Jack.

Jack saw what was coming and turned his fire on the car. But Eddie was driving fast and he closed the distance quickly. In less than ten seconds Eddie was almost on top of Jack. He jumped to the side and rolled into a nearby ditch. Unfortunately, in doing so he dropped Eddie's revolver. When he tried to get near it, he was stopped by a bullet.

Eddie was standing at the top of the ditch, with a gun he had most likely taken off one of his crew's bodies.

Jack quickly looked at his own SigSauer. He had used up his clip. It took him less than five seconds to reload a gun—Eddie could shoot him ten times in that span.

Eddie Grant was hurt and bleeding, but nowhere near fatally. He smiled ruefully."Guess I should have listened to Scotty. Oh well, least I can save Joe some trouble and blow your fucking head off now."

Two shots rang out. With a look of genuine shock on his face, Eddie Grant collapsed in a heap.

To reveal Sydney Bristow standing a few feet behind him.

"That's for calling me a girl, asswipe." Sydney muttered.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Jack yelled at Sydney.

"What, saving your life doesn't even rate a thank you?" Sydney yelled back.

Bauer moved to his feet, reloading his gun."I had the situation under control!"

Sydney rolled her eyes. "My orders were to keep you in sight until you got to Wald," she replied as she holstered her weapon. "Which, by the way, you haven't done yet."

Jack blinked. If she had managed to follow him after the garage, that meant she knew Eddie et al. had been at CTU. "You followed me and you didn't report in?"

"I did the best I could!" Sydney snapped back. "And almost everyone I care about was in CTU when it blew up, so don't even think that I didn't try my damnedest to stop the bomb." Sydney lowered her voice. "Right now, we have other things to worry about. Do you have Wald's address?"

Jack fixed Sydney with a long stare as he brought the matchbook out. "He's at 221 Canyon View Road in Seamy Valley."

"Fine. We'll take my car."

"No, I do this on my own. Wald sees you, he'll bolt before I get in the door. If you thought Eddie was paranoid, Wald makes him look like an amateur. Look, you're a team player, I get that. But I've been doing this since you were an undergraduate."

Sydney almost sighed, thinking that this was more of the lone wolf garbage that he had pulled from hour one."When are you going to get that flying solo isn't working for you today?"

Jack's hand flexed, as though he were ready to strike. He hadn't wanted her along, but he is a professional, so he had made use of her as best he could. Now, however, this was enough. The rage that had been simmering in him since being called back to CTU had been under a pressure cooker all day; first, working for CTU again, then working with Bristow, and after seeing his office blown him, the rage had now come to a full boil.

"The only thing that I really needed you for," he growled, "was to get through to CTU. And you weren't really a big help there, now were you?"

Sydney's fist lashed out before he knew it. In typical Krav Maga style, he leaned his upper body back, getting out of the way of the strike. He couldn't avoid the backhand, however, which rocked him back.

"Now I have had enough," Sydney spat. "Like it or not, I'm going to help you. Call Mason and have him tell me otherwise. Right now, assuming he's still alive, he has the building falling down around his ears. Not to mention that if there were anything he could do, I'm still the closest agent." Before Jack could say anything else, she cut him off. "Agent Bauer, if it makes you feel better, you canhate my guts all you want. But we don't have time to piss around on this.

Jack didn't like this, but he couldn't waste time to continue a shouting match that could only end in gunfire. "You know how to get there?"

"I can figure it out." Sydney headed back to her car.

He followed her to the car. "You practice Krav Maga?"

She nodded, grabbing the car door. "It's useful."

**11:19:20/11:19:21/11:19:22**

Search and rescue had gotten to CTU ten minutes after the explosion. Three minutes after that Dixon had managed to raise Vaughn, who apart from some cuts and bruises was okay.

From Vaughn, he had learned that Nadia and Marshall had managed to survive almost intact as well. Weiss and Sloane hadn't been as lucky--- Eric had a dislocated shoulder, a major scalp laceration and some bruised ribs. Sloane had a broken hand, and it looked like there was some major damage to one of his eyes. He was waiting on transport to a hospital.

But the casualties were appalling. Eleven junior APO agents and twelve CTU agents were dead. At least twenty five more were injured. And that was just personnel.

"We've got ground crews checking to see how solid the support structure is." Vaughn told Dixon "but right now, it looks like a high wind could blow us down. Plus we've lost a lot of computers."

"What about the intel on the nuke?" Dixon asked.

"Our intel was moved to the NSA server before the place blew. Problem is, it's all encrypted and Paula never finished with the decryption key." Vaughn took another look at the men around Paula." It's fifty-fifty that she makes it out alive. Marshall thinks he might be able to restore the data but right now the electronics are so shaky I don't know if even he can work his magic."

This was starting to look real bad. However, right then a buzz indicated that someone was on the other line. "Hold on a second." He pushed a button.

"Dixon, its Jack Bauer."

"Jack, are you all right?"

'How bad is the situation at CTU?" Jack asked.

"Pretty lousy." Dixon admitted. "But we're doing everything we can to get on top of it."

"Can you take a situational report?" Jack asked.

"Go ahead." Dixon said.

"Grant and his crew are all dead. We have a location on Wald:Address is 221 Canyon View Road in Seamy Valley. I need you to send a team out there ASAP."

"Copy that." Dixon said.

"One last thing." Jack asked. "Have you gotten a hold of Kim?"

Finally, something he could be positive about. "Agents picked her up an hour ago. She's on her way to San Francisco."

"Thank you, Marcus." Jack's gratitude was noticeable.

Dixon needed to know. "Jack, is Sydney with you?"

"She's the one driving the car."

Marcus closed his eyes and let out a breath—he didn't even know he had been holding it.Now Dixon was the grateful one. "Good. Look, I got to get back to the rescue effort. Tell Sydney that Vaughn and Nadia are all right. I'll try and get updates on the rest of them as soon as I can."

"Copy that." Jack paused. "Good luck, Dixon."

Dixon got back on the line with Vaughn to give his own update.

**11:26:59/11:27:00/11:27:01/11:27:02**

George didn't know how where the hell they were--- probably somewhere down the interstate--- when the ambulance CB went on. "This is Mobile 3." The paramedic said.

"I have Tony Almeida from CTU on the line for Director Mason."

The paramedic looked at George who shrugged. "What the hell." He said as he took the walkie-talkie from him. "This is Mason."

"George." Even in a single word George could sense Tony's contempt.

"Tony I thought I told you to handle this without me." He started.

"Yeah, well the truth is if I never had to speak to you again I'd be happy, but the IT guys need to access the data stream that Paula was working on, and it's on your system, so I need your password."

_You're going to get your wish_ Mason thought. Aloud all he said was: "Hendrix, like the guitar player."

"Thanks."

"Tony."For some reason George didn't want this call to end. So he asked a serious question. "How's Paula doing?"

"Pretty bad." Some of Tony's contempt fell away. "We've just about got her out of the rubble but she's non-responsive. Look, I gotta go."

"Yeah." George gave back the radio. The doctor's words were floating through his head.

"Am I contagious?" he asked the paramedic casually.

"No."

_What the hell _Mason thought. _A lot can happen in twelve hours. Besides, I'd rather go out in a fight then in some hospital bed._

221 Canyon View Road was a split-level residential that was about twice as large as most of the buildings you would find in Seamy Valley. A middle-class American like the type Wald claimed to be would never have been able to afford it. That alone was not enough to make the house suspicious. The fact that there were three dark automobiles scattered around the house did.

Sydney looked over the grounds once more."So much for getting in here quickly and quietly. How many people do you think he has?"

Jack frowned."Hard to say. Wald never believed in having bodyguards. Like I said, he's that paranoid. If he's got this many people surrounding him, he's got to be really worried about what's happening."

"You have a preference as to how we get to Wald?" Sydney asked.

Jack had had enough time to think it over. "The place is built well enough for him to stand a full military siege, and we don't have enough time to force him out. "

"So what, you want the two of us to wage a full frontal assault? CTU's still cleaning up the mess, we'd have to wait for District, and like you said, we don't have the time. Unless you want tobuild a large wooden horse, wait inside and hope that he doesn't root for USC?"

Jack gave her an evil smile. "I can think of a way in, but you're not gonna like it."

"I haven't liked anything that's happened today." Sydney said glibly. "But I'm getting used to it."

"Drive around the corner and let me out." Jack said.

"Then what?"

"Then we see how well you drive with only one hand on the wheel."

**11:32:25/11:32:26/11:32:27**

It was a day for both work and school, so the neighborhood was pretty much deserted. This made Sydney feel a lot less concerned with what she was going to be doing. She wasn't thrilled that this was basically a kamikaze run, but she did agree with Bauer: they needed to get to Wald.

So she drove from one end of Canyon Road to the other, one of her hands on the wheel, the other with herSig Sauer.

**She **sped through at 40 mph, using her left hand to fire at the guards through the driver's-side window. The first shot was perfect, hitting one of them in the shoulder—now two of his fellow gunmen would be busy with tending to him as opposed to ignoring a dead comrade.

That is, if Syd gave them a chance. She kept firing as fast as she could squeeze the trigger, emptying the clip in their general direction. One bullet struck a spare gas tank on the side of a truck, igniting it. The resulting explosion gave testimony to the fact that one gallon of gas equaled twenty sticks of TNT.

The barrage of bullets, and the explosion, caused the entirety****of Wald's entourage to scatter wildly. Those that weren't already dead or unconscious from either bullet or concussive wave were finally able to bring their guns to bare. She was more thanhalfway down the road before the guardsbegan to shoot back. The guards only managed to put three holes in the side of the Escalade, completely missing the gas tank.

Sydney managed to turn the car completely around by the time she reached the end of the road.

She pulled off to the side of the road, driving so far into a set of trees that she couldn't have hid much better unless she were invisible. She waited for the cars pursuing her as she reloaded her gun.

Two cars had decided to give chase, and drove right by her. She fired four times, blowing out both tires on one side of the front car. The driver lost control, and the car flipped over. Since they were both driving too fast for the road, the second car rammed right into the first, causing far more damage than Sydney had intended to.

If this didn't provide enough cover for Bauer, they were in trouble.

Bristow had done well at drawing the fire of Wald's crew. Two of the vehicles guarding Wald's house drove off following the rogue automobile. That left one for Jack. If the car had its full load of passengers, Jack was fucked. But the odds had been working against him all day anyway.

The remaining car had begun to whirl around and do a sweep of the street. As it came to the apogee of that orbit, Jack appeared and put five shots into the windshield. They were more than enough, because after the last had been fired, Jack heard the sound of the horn being leaned on. Five seconds later, it crashed into a tree.

As he ran to Wald's front door, he had enough time to hope that Agent Bristow was still alive. Along the way, he stopped by the side of one of Wald's fallen gunmen, pulled out his handkerchief, then pressed it against the bloody gash in the man's head. He rolled up the bloody cloth, then pressed it to the back of his own head—he knew that Wald sometimes had cameras to see who was knocking on his front door. A moment later, hewas pounding on it.

"Joe, its Jack! They're gonna kill us all!"

"What happened to Eddie?" Good. Wald was there.

"He's dead."

"What about Chris and Scott?" Wald was sounding pissed now.

"They're dead too; Joe you gotta let me in!"

The door opened. Wald looked out. He had not taken the chain off, though. "I just talked to Eddie half an hour ago. What the fuck happened?" he said frantically.

"Joe, whoever's coming after us is trying to tear a hole through the rest of your people!" Jack tried to sound frantic. "I can get you to safety but you gotta get out of here now!"

There was a pause. Then Wald opened the door. "Eddie said the job went off without a hitch. What the fuck happened between then and now?"

Jack dropped the handkerchief andgrabbed Wald by the elbow and threw him to the ground. Bauer's other hand went for his gun and drew it. "I killed him for resisting arrest and I'll do the same to you if you don't do exactly what I say."

Jack reached down and grabbed Wald's weapon. He threw it into the bushes.

Wald seemed unable to believe what was happening." You killed Goren." He said

"I did what I had to find you." Jack said. "Who told you to hit CTU?" he demanded.

"What makes you think I was told to do anything?" Wald yelled.

"Because there's a nuclear device scheduled to go off in this city some time today!" Wald's eyes went big at Jack's revelation. "Yeah, that's right. CTU was a secondary strike to keep us from stopping the nuke. You've been used this whole time!"

"You're lying." Wald said defiantly

"How elsedo you think I got to Goren?" Thisshut Wald up again. "Come on, Joe, you're not an idiot. Why do you think you hit CTU today? Of all the days possible, why did you do it today?!"

He leveled the gun for Wald's head."I'm going to give you one last chance, Joe." Jack put the barrel of the gun right next to Wald's cheek. "Who told you to hit CTU today?'

Just then Wald's eyes flicked to his left. Jack noticed in time to see a bloody hulk running towards him, firing a Glock. Jack put a bullet between his eyes.

This took at most ten seconds but Wald seized the opportunity to find his feet and run towards the street. He looked around for help, but two of his cars were gone and the third was in a tree trunk

"It's over, Joe." Jack said.

Wald didn't accept this, because he started to run in the other direction.

And ran right into the gunsight of a very annoyed Sydney Bristow.

"I'd listen to Agent Bauer, Mr. Wald. If I were you, I'd be thinking about giving us what we want."

**11:41:04/11:41:05/11:41:06/11:41:07**

Pushing free the last of the rubble, the paramedics checked Paula's blood pressure. "Get some saline in to her, stat." one said.

"Is she going to be alright?' Tony knew it was a stupid question but he had to know.

"She's hemorrhaging internally. The girder stopped the bleeding but once it came off the dam broke."

"How bad is it?"

The paramedic looked at Tony. "If we don't get her to surgery right now, she's probably going to die. We have to move her now."

With that, they put Paula on a stretcher. Very gently they lifted it up and put her on a gurney and began to roll her out. Tony and Marshall trailed behind them.

In the parking lot, the doctors had set up triage and were handling most of the wounded. This was bad but at least these people had a chance. Most of the ones inside hadn't been so lucky.

They were almost at the ambulance when Tony saw someone he honestly hadn't expected to see: George Mason was arguing with a worker on the structural integrity of the building. Michelle was standing a few feet behind him. When he saw Paula, he ran in front of the stretcher. "Whoa, whoa, where are you going?" he asked them.

"I could ask you the same question." Tony snidely remarked "I thought you weren't coming back here."

"I changed my mind."

Tony was still pissed. "Yeah, why?

George looked up at Tony. "I don't have to answer to you." He looked at Paula." How bad is she?"

"Pretty bad, George, she's bleeding internally."

George looked at the paramedics. "Anything you can do in the hospital you can do here, right?' he asked.

"No, she needs surgery. We can't do that in the field."

"You're gonna put her under anesthesia? How long is she going to be under?"

Now one of the paramedics was looking at George funny. "At least a couple of hours."

"What are you doing, George?" Tony asked.

"Alright, then she stays here."

Now Tony was pissed. "George, what the hell are you doing?"

"Look, everything we had on the nuke was destroyed." George was just as angry. "All we have left is on the NSA server and Paula didn't finish the codes."

Marshall scurried over, hand raised, and tried to interject."Actually, Mr. Mason----"

Now Tony could see the picture. "Then we'll assign other servers to it!"

"She is the only one who can decrypt those files and you know it!!"

Marshall looked back and forth from Tony to Mason, then sputtered."That's not----"

"Then we'll have a programmer in the ambulance!"

"We don't have time!" George turned to the paramedics

"The data is in sub-volume eighteen!" Marshall shouted.

The sound of Marshall's voice finally penetrated George and Tony's shouting match. They both turned to him. "You know where the encryption file is?" George asked, brow raised.

"I was the one who help design it; I should know where we put it."

Tony glowered at Marshall, still thinking about what Mason was about to do with Paula."Why the hell didn't you say something?" Tony demanded.

"I was worried about Paula, and apparently the sound of my voice didn't penetrate the pissing contest the two of you were in!" Immediately after saying this, Marshall turned beet-red. "I'm sorry, Mr. Mason, I realize I'm out of line here, but really this is an important thing---"

"How long will you need to get the data off the server?" Mason asked in a more reasonable tone.

"Get me a working computer; I can probably have it on line in twenty minutes." Marshall said definitively.

"Fine. Get on it."

"Yes sir." With that, Marshall disappeared back towards CTU.

George looked back at the paramedics. "Keep her here until Flinkman gets us back on-line." he ordered. Off Tony's wicked glance, he added. "We need to have all contingencies covered. We can't afford to lose that data."

"All right." said the paramedic reluctantly.

Tony stared at George. "Why'd you come back, George?" he asked again.

"Because someone needs to make the hard calls." Mason said. "What I just did may have been inhumane, but it was also necessary. That's what this job is about. I know it and you know it. So stop giving me a hard time."

With that Mason headed off to talk to one of the contractors about how stable some of the pillars were. Tony looked at the paramedics for a moment longer. He had done all he could for Paula. There were other people he could help more back in CTU.

He looked at Michelle. "Have we heard anything from Jack?" he asked Michelle.

Michelle nodded. "I just spoke to Dixon. He and Sydney got to Wald."

"Has he told us anything yet?" Tony said as he started walking back in the building.

"According to Dixon, they've started working him now." Michelle said. "But a guy like Wald, he's not going to be easy to break."

**11:49:17/11:49:18/11:49:19/11:49:20**

Sydney knew that breaking Wald was going to be difficult. Her solution to this particular Gordian knot was to cut it in two before Bauer decided to do the cutting. She called Dixon and asked him to have the government toss Wald a deal.

"Sydney, the man just had a government building blown up." Dixon said.

"Thank you, Dixon; I saw it happen." Sydney said. "That doesn't change the fact that right now he is our only link to the nuke. We**_'_**ve made a deal with Arvin Sloane, and in comparison, Wald's chump change."

"I'm aware of that, Syd" Dixon's voice seemed a bit tighter. "But I can't go back to Chapelle unless we know that we're going to be getting something real in return."

Sydney knew this was true. "Hold on a second." She took the phone from her ear and walked back in the house. Jack had Joseph Wald cuffed to a chair. "If you want this to work," she said as she approached him,"you'd better give us a hint that what you have is worth a pass. What do you know about the nuke?"

"I told you; I don't know anything about a goddamn nuke!"

"Then why should we make any kind of deal with you?" Jack was clearly more hostile then Sydney towards giving Wald anything.

"The person who sold me the plans to CTU, who gave us the access codes" Wald paused "they worked for the government."

Both Bauer and Bristow lingered over this bombshell for a few seconds. "Give us a minute." Sydney said and walked outside, Bauer a few steps behind, keeping his eyes on Wald.

"No one's going to give him immunity based on this whatever the circumstances." Bauer said quietly.

Sydney held up a hand and put the phone back to her ear. "Did you get that last bit?" she asked.

"I got both of them, Syd," Dixon said, "and Jack's right; it's not nearly enough to go to Division with."

Syd thought this over. "If we were going to give Wald a deal" she started in a very low voice, "how long would it take before I could say you were drawing it up?"

Jack looked at her close, a small smile appearing on his face. It looked genuine, and Sydney almost thought his face would shatter. "Good thinking."

Sydney turned her attention back to Dixon. "Get something that looks legitimate; I don't care if there's nothing behind it. We need something that'll pass muster for today."

**11:53:38/11:53:39/11:53:40**

The doctor was looking at Sloane's left eye with a penlight. "All that glass flying around and this piece just missed your retina." he said slowly. "Quarter inch to the left, you'd have completely lost your eye."

"And a quarter inch to the right, it could have gone into my brain." Sloane said in a surprisingly peaceful tone. "I'd prefer not to reflect on the might-have-beens, doctor."

"I can understand that." The doctor put the penlight away. "Well, the good news is it's completely operable. We get a good ophthalmologic surgeon down here; we can get it out right away."

"And how long will it take?" Sloane asked. "I can't be the only one in this hospital with possible eye injuries and I'm certainly not the most serious case." The hospital was a government run facility that had taken two-thirds of the emergent cases from the bombing.

The ER doctor looked around. "My best guess is two, maybe three hours."

Sloane considered this. "What about a general surgeon? Would he be able to perform the surgery?"

The doctor frowned. "I believe I could have one ready for you in the next half-hour." he said.

"Do that. And I need the surgeon to use a local anesthetic, not a general."

Now the doctor looked concerned. "Sir, by doing this there is a much greater risk that you could still lose your eye----"

"I'm aware of that but there are other factors in play here. "

The doctor tried again. "Mr. Sloane, I'm not sure I can do this in good conscience---"

"I realize the risks, doctor, but if I'm willing to assume them, you can not hold me against my wishes." Sloane voice had turned a bit colder. "Now get the surgeon down here as soon as you can. I need to get back to CTU as soon as possible."

The doctor wasn't sure what the crisis that CTU was dealing with, nor why Arvin Sloane, a known enemy of the country, was being treated by the CIA as if he was on the side of the angels. But his opinions were irrelevant. He had to follow his patient's wishes.

Still he wondered: why was Sloane in such a hurry to get back to CTU?

Sydney walked back to Wald."All right, Mr. Wald, you've got the deal. We've got instructions to take you back to Division." She put the proper measure of disgust in her voice. "You won't beprosecuted. But, personally, Mr. Wald, I wouldn't recommend staying in the country much longer." Sydney told him, in a low, threatening voice that could have passed for seductive if it hadn't been heavily laced with malice.**_"_**There are a lot of people in government who want you dead right now."

"Start talking, Joe." Jack said as he yankedJoe to his feet. "Who gave you the access codes to CTU?"

Wald looked around for s moment as they began to lead him to the door. "The woman who gave me the codes, I only met her twice. The second time I had Eddie take some pictures from down the block." They had now reached the front door,"I don't know if it's her real name, but she contacted us saying she was Yelena Brade—"

Joseph Wald never finished the sentence. Two shots rang out; one hit him the temple, the other in the chest.

"No!!" Jack shouted.

Both agents had their guns out as they hit the dirt. Sydney was closer to the door, so she did a quick survey of the place. "Goddamn it!!" Sydney swore and ran outside

Bauer knelt over Wald. "Where are the pictures of the woman?" he demanded.

"K—kitchen table, envelope." Those were Wald's last words

Bauer ran back inside the house. It took him less than ten seconds to find the envelope and open it.

Sydney ran back in the house. "They must have had a sniper somewhere up the street." She went to the table. "Did you find the…."

She trailed off. Jack was staring at one of the photographs. "What's the matter? Who…"

Then she saw the photograph and trailed off. "You know this woman." She said

"Yeah." Bauer managed to say.

"Who is she?" Sydney asked.

"Her name is Nina Myers. She used to work at CTU." Jack swallowed. "A year ago she murdered my wife."

In the silence Jack might have thought Sydney was in shock and she was, but for two different reasons.

She had never heard of Nina Myers before today.

But she had seen this woman before.

**11:59:57/11:59:58/11:59:59/12:00:00**


	5. 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

**Chapter 5**

**The Following Takes Place Between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M.**

Under any other circumstances, a higher agency like Homeland Security or Defense would have ordered CTU shut down five minutes after Wald's crew bombed it. Mason knew it might still happen but wasgrateful for whatever bureaucratic logjam that kept them up and running. Getting CTU working again was not onlyprobably the last thinghe would ever do, but his responsibility. If that meant massaging some fire marshals to keep the place movingfine. If that meant sacrificing lives--- well, he'd be accounting for that soon enough.

The fire marshal was finishing his report. George nodded,and looked over to Michelle, who was helping get the computers running. Marshall said as soon as they restored power to the computers, he could get the data off the NSA server. Tony and Michelle both said Marshall knew his way around a keyboard. Mason hoped so. Otherwise, he was going to have to make the call he really didn't want to.

Tony chose that moment to walk past him. "Where are you going?"

"Following up on a lead. There may be a connection in LA to Sayed Ali" Tony spoke brusquely. "We were going to follow up on it before the roof fell in."

"Can't you delegate this someone else? We need you here."

A look of anger flashed over Tony's face. It was replaced by resignation. "Look, there's a Middle Eastern businessman who's had contact with Ali. Now Iris and Lavelle are dead. Who do you want me to send?"

Mason sighed.**_ "_**Be reachable." he said.

Tony walked over to Vaughn. "That lead Sloane had involvingWarner Enterprises," he said. "I need help following it up."

An hour and a half ago, Vaughn would have given Tony a problem about talking to him. Now there was no room for joking. "Give me a minute to get ready**_."_**

As he grabbed his jacket, he asked, "Anything from Sydney or Jack yet?"

Tony shook his head. "Not since they got to Wald."

As it happened, Michelle was walking over to Mason at that second. "Mr. Mason, I have Jack Bauer."

Mason took the phone. This might be it. "Jack."

"George, I got to Wald. I found out who gave him the plans for CTU." Jack sounded a little dazed. "It was Nina Myers."

Mason blinked, mouth agape. "Nina…It doesn't make sense. She's been in prison for the last year."

"Wald approached her while she was still at CTU. She sold him everything. It has to be connected to the nuke."

Mason was putting two and two together. "So this was what, a hit to cripple our response capability?"

"Yeah. George, I've already talked to Chapelle."

Despite himself, George was pissed. "You what?"

"George, I couldn't find you."

Mason then remembered where he'd been for the last hour. "What did he say?"

"He agrees we should talk to her. He's having her transferred to the building."

Mason knew what 'we' implied. "Look, why don't you debrief back at Division?"

"What are you going to do with Nina?" Jack asked

"We'll take care of it."

"George, don't just hand her over to the FBI."

"Look, Jack, you've done a great job but now it's our turn to handle this. Find yourself some place safe." Without waiting for a reaction, George hung up on him and walked over to Michelle.

"I need you to set up an interrogation room. Someone's being brought in. Nina Myers. The same. I need you to get a place as close to maximum security as you can get."

**12:08:05/12:08:06/12:08:07**

Sydney knew Jack was understandably distracted given what he had learned at Wald's place. Therefore, she decided not to press him on what he had omitted mentioning to Mason. Besides, she figured they were going to part ways as soon as they got to Division.

In the meantime, she had a couple of other leads that she needed to follow. And since Marshall was going to be extra busy back at CTU, she had another resource to follow up on.

"Division, this is Dixon."

"It's me."

"Syd. How far out are you and Bauer?"

"Ten minutes, maybe. But we've hit a couple of major problems. The good news is we won't have to forge any deal with Joseph Wald."

Dixon knew that this was bad. "What happened?"

"We were bringing Wald to the car when a sniper took him out."

"Shit!" Dixon swore. "Do you think it was one of Wald's own people?"

"I suppose it's possible, but I doubt it like hell." Sydney said. "Bauer and I managed to take care all of Wald's bodyguards. Besides, if it had been Wald's people, it would have made a lot more sense for them to have taken out me and Bauer."

"So, what are you thinking: whoever hired Wald decided that he was a liability?"

"Probably." Sydney said. "What I can't figure out is why the two of us are still alive. If he was close enough to see us, it would have been just as quick to take us out." Sydney shrugged off the mystery. "Look, I need you to get a forensic team out to Seamy Valley. I know the crime scene has been contaminated, but we have to hope that they at least left something behind."

"I'll see it's done." Dixon promised. "Did Wald give us anything to go on?"

Sydney looked at Bauer. He had tightened his grip on the wheel but he appeared not to be listening to the conversation. Sydney knew this was a façade, but she decided not to give away the store yet.

"Wald had pictures of the woman who sold him the schematics to CTU." Sydney paused. "It was Nina Myers."

Dixon took a deep breath. "How's Bauer taking this?"

"How do you think?" Sydney asked rhetorically. "Look, as big a deal as I know this is going to be, there's something else that I need you to follow up on. Something I don't want you to pass on to Chapelle, at least not yet."

There was a pause on the other end. "What is it, Syd?"

"Wald claimed that Myers used a pseudonym when she sold him the schematics. I'm pretty sure that the name she used was Yelena Bradekov."

"It doesn't ring a bell." Dixon admitted

"Dixon, I never heard of Nina Myers until ten minutes ago, but I know that I've heard of Yelena Bradekov. And I know that it was when we were working at SD-6. "

Dixon considered this. "Sydney, most of the files on SD-6 are at APO. I'm not sure that I can access them from here."

"Then go in the back door. Access Myers' file. See if there's anywhere in it that our paths could have crossed."

"Syd, I'm neck deep in a lot of stuff. I don't know how much time I can devote to searching something that may have nothing to do with the nuclear strike."

"Marshall's going to be even busier than you," Sydney retorted, "and I don't know what shape the computers will be in by the time I get to CTU. I don't have a lot of options, and I wouldn't press this if I didn't think it was important."

Just then Sydney saw what stretch of highway they were on, and got a gut feeling. "Look, start the search. I'll get back to you as soon as I can," she told Dixon.

"You almost here?"

"Maybe…Maybe not." She hung up before Dixon asked another question.

"Granted I've only been there twice," Sydney said, "but I'm pretty sure the turn-off to Division was one exit ago."

"It is." Jack said. "We're going back to CTU."

"Might I ask why?"

"All of the relevant intel about the nukes isat CTU.' Jack said. "Besides, you're going to head back here anyway."

Sydney still didn't like Bauer much--- he seemed **_t_**oo much a maverick for her comfort --- but she knew enough about his situation to feel sympathy for him. "You have no reason to believe me," she told him, "but believe me when I tell you that you'd be better off just walking away from this. You've done a good job today, but you're not going to do yourself any favors seeing Myers again. All it will bring you is grief."

Jack chose not to answer her question. He just continued to stare straight ahead. Sydney decided not to press any further.

Mainly because she had been in the same situation before and hadn't been able to follow her own advice.

**12:16:43/12:16:44/12:16:45/12:16:46**

Tony hadn't spoken much since he and Vaughn had started their drive to the upper crust section of LA. Vaughn wasn't sure which of the ten thousand things that could be going wrong at CTU was bothering Tony, but he decided that if this lead was going to work, he'd have to extend an olive branch.

"How long has Paula been working with you?" he asked, deciding to start with Tony's most likely concern.

Tony looked up. "Less than three months," he said. "I brought her in from District. Good tech, but she never got much of a chance to work." He swallowed. "Now this happens."

"Tony, I could say something pat like she'll be alright, but we both know that would be a lie." Vaughn shook his head. "We're in a dangerous job. "

"Paula didn't come to CTU expecting to get blown up!" Tony said exasperated.

"Neither did any of our people." Vaughn said. "This was an act of madmen."

"No, it wasn't." Tony countered. "It was too calculated for that. It would make us all feel better if Eddie Grant and Joe Wald were insane, but…" Tony trailed off. "Look, Michael, right now I really don't want to get philosophical. I think the only way that I'm going to make it through the day is if I keep myself on focused on what we're doing now. Can you live with that?"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Vaughn admitted, and decided to change the subject. "So this man who we think is connected to Sayed Ali, his name is Reza Nayer?"

"That's right." Tony was pulling into the driveway of their destination. "According to the file, he works for Warner Enterprises."

"And the man we're here to see, he's the CEO of that company." Vaughn was looking through Robert Warner's file now. "Do we suspect that he has a connection to Ali?"

"Right now, I think we have to assume he does." Tony had just stopped the car. "I'll talk with Nayer. You see if you can find out anything by talking to the Warners."

"Got it."

They got out of the car, and saw a formidable looking man in his early sixties, with white hair and a beard, talking with an attractive young woman in her twenties. Vaughn knew from the file that this was Robert Warner.

Tony walked up to them. "Mr. Warner, my name is Tony Almeida. This is Michael Vaughn. We're with CTU."

"CTU? What agency is that?"

"Counter Terrorist Unit, Los Angeles." That got the attention of both of them. "We're looking for a Reza Nayer."

"What's this about?" the woman asked.

"This is a government matter, Miss Warner." Vaughn said. "We need to have a talk with Mr. Nayer."

"Look, Kate hired a private investigator to look into Reza's background. Everything's been cleared up." Like any businessman, Warner was trying to damage control on what he thought was a minor problem.

"Dad," the woman said, "nothing has been cleared up, really."

"Mr. Almeida, Mr. Vaughn, Marie, my other daughter is marrying Reza in a few hours. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

Suddenly Vaughn was irrationally angry at Bob Warner. Los Angeles was under the cloud of atomic disaster and this man was concerned about his deposit with the caterers.

Tony was a bit more diplomatic. "I realize that the timing isn't ideal, but no, this can't wait until tomorrow. We have been authorized to talk with Mr. Nayer. Now, either take us to him, or we will have to forcibly remove him."

Warner got it. "Kate, go find Reza."

As the three of them walked into the house--- a building that was a bit too much like Senator Reed's Virginia home for Vaughn's comfort---- Kate asked Vaughn," Agent Vaughn, what is all this about?"

"I'm sorry," Vaughn said. "All I can tell you is that it involves national security."

"National security?" Kate Warner sounded surprised, but not shocked. Vaughn felt that this was revealing in itself.

As they entered the house, a dark-haired Arabic man was in the foyer. Tony walked over to Nayer; Vaughn silently indicated to Tony that he wanted to question Kate.

As Tony began talking to Nayer, Vaughn turned to Kate. "Miss Warner, could I get something to drink?"

Kate Warner's body language clearly indicated she didn't like taking orders, but was willing to tolerate them given who was asking. She walked into the kitchen with Vaughn right behind her.

"So tell me, Miss Warner," Vaughn began, "do you get along with your future brother-in-law?"

**12:23:29/12:23:30/12:23:31**

Sydney had been trying to prepare herself for what CTU might be like but it still came as a huge shock to see the building. It looked more like a bombed-out village in Sarajevo than anything in America. Instinctively, she began to mentally scan the place looking for faces she recognized. She found one soon enough.

"Sydney!" Nadia pulled her half-sister into an embrace.

Sydney wasn't given to outward displays of emotion with her family--- neither was Nadia for that matter---- but when her half-sister grabbed her, she thought, _The hell with it. _

"Where is everybody?" she said slowly as she let go. "Weiss, Vaughn… everyone?"

With the question, Nadia regained her sense of decorum. "Vaughn's out with Tony following up on a lead. My father----" she inhaled sharply--- "he had to go to the hospital. Something with his eye. It looked superficial, but then---"

She pulled herself together again. "Marshall's helping Michelle restore all of CTU's comm. links. He managed to get all of the data on the bomb back on our server, but tech support's pretty shaky right now."

"And Weiss?" Sydney asked.

"Superficial stuff, he'll be fine, but Syd," Nadia made a gesture, "twenty-six people are dead, ten or more at the hospital, and I don't know how the hell we're supposed to find the nuke with the facility in this shape."

Sydney was wondering the exact same thing, but she knew that this was one decision that was out of her hands. "Where's Mason?" she asked, changing to a more pertinent subject.

"He's getting Nina Myers' file together." Nadia shook her head. "This woman used to work at CTU?"

"Apparently." Sydney said.

Nadia was looking straight ahead. Bauer was in the middle of a tense-looking conversation with Mason. Syd could guess the subject. "Do you think that Bauer should even be here?" Nadia asked.

Considering who they all worked for, and the number of double dealers she had dealt with in her career with the agency, Sydney thought that this was an odd question. However, right now she had other worries. "That may not be our only problem," she said in a low voice.

Nadia knew Syd well enough to gleam something from her sister's voice. "Do you know something about Myers that CTU doesn't?" she asked.

"Maybe." Sydney made sure that no one else was nearby before taking Nadia to one side.

"Five years ago, I was sent in a deep cover mission to Berlin for SD-6." Sydney began. "One of my objectives was to infiltrate a K-Directorate base and determine the identities of potential sleeper agents. One of the pictures I saw was of a woman who worked in Beirut and London named Yelena Bradekov. That's the same handle that Nina Myers used when she sold the blueprints of CTU to Joseph Wald."

Nadia took this in. "How sure are you of this?"

"Not a hundred percent." Sydney admitted. "I asked Dixon to do some background checking, but he told me that it could take hours before he could find the correct files. I was hoping that Marshall could accelerate the process----"

"Forget that." Nadia said, as she watched the techie continue to punch keys at his station. "He's trying to help put CTU's computers back together again. He doesn't have time to go on a wild goose chase."

"Even if it's relevant to the search for the nuke?"

"You don't have any proof it is." Nadia pointed out. "It was five years ago. Besides, I find it very difficult to believe that it could have somehow escaped the attention of every government agency that's been working on Nina Myers for the past year."

Sydney could have pointed out that there had been nothing in Myers' file to indicate that she would have worked for a Serbian warlord, and yet it had played out that way a year ago. She also might have pointed out that she had worked with a lot of people whose job it was to make just this kind of information disappear.

She never got a chance to because right then Nadia stood up. "But I think your going to get a chance to test your theory."

Sydney turned around to see a group of very large men in suits enter the room. Standing in the midst of them was the woman she and Bauer had seen in the photographs.

Nina Myers was back in CTU.

**12:31:19.12:31:20/12:31:21/12:31:22**

Nina had spent a year in a maximum-security detention facility and hadn't revealed any intel about her employers; George doubted she would do so in a situation where she held all the cards. Nonetheless, he had to make the effort.

He opened the door to the room they had been keeping her and there she was. George was having trouble believing he had once considered the woman an ally. Her whole manner showed a vaguely concealed contempt, but besides that she seemed completely uninterested in what was going on. And even though her legs and arms were still bound, her attitude seemed to say that she was in control of the situation.

"Hello Nina." he said calmly as he walked to the table and sat down across from her.

For a few moments, they just stared at each other. George broke the silence. "So it wasn't just the Drazens." he said calmly. "You were selling information to anyone who would buy it. Presidential assassins, terrorists--- you name it." No response. "What do you know about this nuclear bomb?"

Finally Nina responded. "Here are the terms, George, and they are non-negotiable. I'll give up all my contacts, I'll give you all the background, and I'll work with anyone you want, here or in the field. In exchange I want a full Presidential pardon, third party signature, in writing."

George swallowed, trying to act as if he hadn't expected just this kind of answer. "That's not gonna fly, Nina." he said calmly.

"Then take me back." Nina responded just as coolly.

George leaned forward. "You're not buying a used car. You have to operate within the confines of reality. No one's going to give you anything unless you produce results."

"It's in my interest to produce results." Nina said composedly. "I don't say another word without a deal."

George had no doubt that she meant it. And even though this galled him in a million different ways, he knew they didn't have a choice.

Without saying another word, he got up and walked out of the interrogation room. He then walked to a phone. "This work?" he asked Michelle. "I need to talk with Chapelle."

Dixon had thought given everything that was going on at CTU, Division might have been more sheltered from the storms that were erupting everywhere. However, the last hour had belied any hope that things would cool off.

First, there had been the revelation of Nina Myers' involvement with Wald's group, and the fact Sydney thought that she had recognized Myers from a mission at SD-6. Dixon had examined Myers' case at the time, but had been unable to find any links in her file to connect her with any outside terrorist organizations. However, Sydney had reappeared not long after Myers' arrest, and he had been forced to put concerns about that aside. He now wished he'd had a chance to do a deeper background; it was now clear something had been missed.

Dixon had barely begun his new search, when he was notified of yet another internal shakeup, this time from Chapelle. Eric Raeburn had been removed at NSA: apparently, when Bauer had reported that CTU was about to be attacked, he had withheld the information from the President. As far as Dixon was concerned, if Raeburn had done this, he should be facing a firing squad, and he would have cheerfully signed up as an executioner. He didn't see how anyone at CTU could have been dismayed by this, but Ryan Chapelle seemed to be. Oh, he agreed that Raeburn should be prosecuted; he just thought that they could wait until the crisis had passed.

"Right now, we some stability at the top of the chain of command," he had argued. "Division's going to have to redirect everything now that Raeburn's gone, and it's gonna take time we don't have."

Dixon was never Chapelle's biggest booster on a good day; now he doubted Ryan even had a soul. "You're telling me you'd let the bastard who left CTU defenseless before terrorists stay at his job?"

"He made a bad judgment call." Chapelle said. "You've never done the same?"

Because the discussion was making him ill, Dixon decided to return to his data search. Unfortunately, twenty minutes later he had gotten yet another sickening message from Chapelle.

"You can't tell the President to give into this demand!" Dixon said.

"Marcus, we don't have a choice," Chapelle said resignedly.

"Isn't there some way can we work around this?"

"Nina Myers is smarter than Joseph Wald." Chapelle pointed out. "In addition, she knows all our protocols. We dick around with her; we'll get nothing, and we have nothing in the way of other leads."

This time Dixon knew better than to argue. He just went back to his data stream, while Chapelle made yet another loathsome call.

**12:38:25/12:38:26/12:38:27**

Jack had finished his debrief and Michelle was trying to get him out of the building--- something that she knew was going to be impossible.

"It's the first time I've seen Nina since----"

"Why are you doing this to yourselfJack?" Michelle asked gently. "Mason's right, you should go."

Jack never knew if he would have ever been able to do it because at that moment the phone rang.

Michelle answered. "Yes. Hold on." She walked over to Jack. "Jack. It's for you."

"Yeah."

"Jack Bauer?"

"Yes."

"Please hold for the President." Jack tensed up. When the President had called him five hours ago, it was to deliver bad news. He didn't think this would be much better.

"Jack."

"Mr. President."

"I'd like to thank you for your work this morning."

"Yes sir."

The President sounded remorseful. "Jack, there's something else, something I want you to hear from me. Nina Myers." He paused. "I'm going to have to grant her a shadow asylum."

Jack tried not to sound if he hadn't been gutted. "That sounds like a pardon, sir."

"It is. Only a couple of people would ever know about it. She'll be deported to another country." The President paused. "Jack, I know how difficult this must be to hear. It was not an easy decision. But she has information that can help us find the bomb." The President breathed in. "I wish there was another way. "

"So do I, sir."

"Let's just get through this thing. Eventually, we'll make this right."

"Yes sir." What else could he say?

"Thank you, Jack." The President hung up.

Jack didn't know how long he remained still until Michelle came up to him. "What is it?" she asked kindly.

He took a deep breath. "They're going to let her go."

**12:42:15/12:42:16/12:42:17/12:42:18**

"How sure are we of this information?" Sydney asked.

"I wouldn't want to swear to it a court of law," Dixon admitted "and there may be a legitimate explanation for it."

"What do you think?" Sydney pressed.

"Bring it to Mason." Dixon said. "At this point, it might help with interrogating her."

"All right. Thank you." Sydney hung up.

The director of CTU had just gotten off his own phone call---- Sydney was betting it told him Nina Myers had just gotten her 'get-out-of-jail-free card' from the President. This wasn't going to make Mason any happier, but then making Mason happy wasn't part of Sydney's job description, executive orders not withstanding.

"Mr. Mason," Sydney started.

"If this is more about your Russian sleeper theory, I really don't have time to deal with any more nonsense." Mason started to walk away.

"Even if I have evidence to back it up?" Sydney asked.

Mason stopped walking and all but did an about face. "What have you got?"

"I'vejust gotten confirmation of Nina Myers' travel schedule while she was in Eastern Europe five years ago. It confirmed that she was in Belgrade, Omsk, and Kosovo."

"Shit, Bristow, everyone who knows Myers' record knows that." Mason argued.

"Do they also know that there we later confirmed K-Directorate cells within a five-mile radius of each of those cities at the same time period?"

That stopped Mason in his mental tracks. "How do you have this information?"

"It was part of the information that Arvin Sloane turned over to the agency when he negotiated his second pardon," Sydney said. "There are some benefits to working with a confirmed traitor."

Mason considered this. "Even assuming this is true, how does this help us now?"

"Have you decided who's going to be Myers' handler yet?" Sydney asked.

"No." Mason admitted. "It's not exactly a job people are lining up for."

"Let me spend a few minutes with her. See if I can rattle her cage about something she hasn't been tried for." Mason hesitated. "Come on, she's already cut her deal. At this point, you have nothing to lose."

Mason thought this over. "It'll be another fifteen minutes before the pardon gets here." he said finally. "I don't see what we lose by having you sit with her 'til then."

Mason started walking to the men's room. As he did, he was seized by a fit of coughing.

"You all right?" Sydney asked casually.

"Must be getting the flu." Mason said. "I'll be fine."

With that Sydney and Mason walked to opposite sides of the room.

Sydney had spent her career measuring people's game faces --- one could say her life depended on it. It was therefore difficult to rank Nina Myers' in comparison to such masters as Arvin Sloane and those of her parents. There might have been a brief expression of surprise in Myers' when she walked into the interrogation room, but if there was it was there and gone in an instant. The only indication of change was a flash, and then they went back to the flat, almost reptilian gaze that came from her. To look into the empty, soulless eyes of Arvin Sloane was to look into Nietzsche's abyss—stare too long, the abyss looks back into you. With Nina Meyers, it was the gaze of someone who was not only evil, but smug.

"And I thought they'd stick me with someone I knew." Myers said as Sydney closed the door.

"Well, unfortunately, Nina, you killed a lot of the people you knew," Sydney said deliberately. "And the people who are left, they want to kill you. Personally, I don't know you at all, but killing you, not an unattractive idea."

Nina Myers' face _wasn't _as inscrutable as others; a look of hurt briefly passed over it. "I didn't kill anyone in here, " she argued.

"Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe," Sydney said. "Anyway, what do you care? The President's going to sign off on your pardon. You're going to walk out of this place scot-free." An ugly look passed through her face. "I know better than anyone else how easily treason can be forgiven."

Now a hint of a smile appeared on Nina's face. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere," she said. "You're Sydney Bristow. You're the one who brought down SD-6." Nina's smile grew wider. "Just out of curiosity, how do you deal with it?"

"With what?"

"You know."

Sydney's glance grew steelier. "Pretend I'm an idiot."

"All those years, you working to bring down Arvin Sloane, bring down his organization, and then somehow, not only does he end up walking away from all his evil misdeeds, but every day, you come into work and there he is, telling you what to do like nothing has passed between you." Nina's smile grew wider.

Sydney was beginning to tense up. "How do you know where I work?" she demanded.

Nina's smile grew even more cat-like. "A girl has to have some secrets."

"That's the way you're gonna play this?" A cold smile appeared on Sydney's face. "Fine, _Yelena._"

Nina's grin disappeared in a flash. "What are you talking about?" she challenged.

"Well, since we're discussing ancient history, let's go over yours." Sydney walked around the table. "I know that you trained in Eastern Europe. I know that you sold the plans to CTU using the name Yelena Bradekov." Sydney stopped walking. "What I don't know is what agency recruited you when you were in Eastern Europe."

"You don't know shit about anything," Nina barked, almost certainly an indication that she wasa little rattled now.

"Was it the Covenant? K-Directorate? Maybe you worked with the Alliance and we just never met at the Christmas party." Sydney bore down. "You were working with someone though. Question is, whose reaction are you more afraid of? Theirs, or ours?"

For a long moment the two of them glared at each other. Nina broke first--- only she laughed. "Not bad." she said with a chuckle. "But not nearly good enough."

Sydney wasn't sure what had happened. "Excuse me?"

"I spent over a year holding out against the worst that Uncle Sam could throw at me. You really think I'm going to blurt out something to you ten minutes because you think you know who I am?" Her laugh had real disdain in it. "That's not how this works. You get what I give you. So I'll tell you what I know about the nuke. Maybe I'll tell you who's behind it. But that's all you get. And there isn't a goddamn thing you can do about it." Nina smiled. "Got it, Bristow?"

Sydney gave her a smile of her own. "You're right, Myers, I don't know you." She leaned forward, palms flat on the table, and cocked her head. "But I know someone who does, and he knows all of your weak spots. Maybe I should ask Jack where the right place to hit you is."

Nina blinked. "Who?"

"Bauer."

Another blink. "You don't know Bauer."

Sydney gave a little shrug, as if she was saying "Fine, I warned you." She simply stood and moved to the door. "Be that way. But know this, Nina. If you don't talk to me, you'll have to talk to him. And I'm certain he won't be as pleasant as I am."

She closed the door on that. That would shake her up. Of course she knew that Bauer wouldn't be allowed within ten feet of Nina. But the point was to rattle her cage. And from what she'd seen of Nina, she had touched on her worst nightmare.

**12:51:58/12:51:59/12:52:00/12:52:01**

"I'm starving but I don't want to eat anything," said the blond-haired woman to her sister. "I fit in this dress perfectly right now."

Normally, the sight of two sisters talking hours before she got married would be a heartwarming sight. However, Vaughn knew that this was going to be different because Kate was going to have to tell Marie that the wedding might have to be postponed because agents from the government were interrogating her fiancée.

Tony had asked Vaughn if he wanted to help interrogate Nayer. Even though his initial conversation with Kate had revealed nothing about Nayer but vague suspicions, Vaughn had opted not to. He had a gut instinct that somehow the Warner's were tied into this deeper than suspected, and that it might get more out of observing them than by talking with Nayer.

"Where's Reza?" Marie asked.

"Some people with the government are talking with him in the other room," Kate said reluctantly.

Clouds appeared on Marie's face. "What government people?"

Vaughn decided to spare Kate further pain. "My name is Michael Vaughn. I'm from the Counter Terrorist Unit."

"Counter---- what do you need to talk with Reza for?"

"It's okay, honey," Bob Warner said in paternal tones. "It's a misunderstanding. We'll get it cleared up very soon."

Marie didn't listen. Instead she walked towards the door of the room Nayer was being questioned. "Marie, I'm sorry you can't go in there." Vaughn started.

Marie, understandably perhaps, turned on him. "Why not? We're going to get married in six hours!"

"I deeply apologize, Marie, but we do have cause to talk with him."

Marie was getting angrier. "What cause? Reza hasn't done anything wrong." Her rage found another target. "Did you do this?" she demanded of her sister.

"Marie, all I did was ask Larry to a background check," Kate said defensively.

"Bull." Marie said. "You were looking for dirt on Reza."

To her credit, Kate didn't deny it. "And it looks like there was some to find."

"You don't like Reza so you hire Larry to look for some. How could you?" Marie was all but shouting now.

All of the discord seemed genuine. But Vaughn, whose senses were better attuned to this sort of thing, could sense that something--- or someone--- was the tiniest bit off. Someone in the room was lying about something, he just wasn't sure of who.

**11:55:49/11:55:50/11:55:51**

Amazingly, George's office had managed to survive the explosion relatively intact. Since the computers were back on-line, he figured it made more sense to operate out of there. As he walked upstairs, he had another rack of coughing. It passed quickly— this time.

As he walked into his office, he saw someone he wanted to see less that Nina Myers. "I already told you, Jack. You're not handling Nina."

"How long did they give you?" Jack asked simply. When he tried to ignore the question, Jack bore down. "George, I know you were exposed to a high-level of radioactive material this morning."

There wasn't any point in denying it. "How did you figure it out?" he asked.

Jack gave him back a familiar bottle of pills. He knew that he'd left something in the bathroom."Your medication. It's for radiation sickness. I checked the log, made some calls--- you inhaled plutonium."

"So?"

"So, I'm not the only person who shouldn't be here today." The sternness disappeared and compassion entered Jack's voice. "How long do you have?" he asked.

George sighed. "I'll probably be dead this time tomorrow. What's it to you?"

Jack was back to business. "What are your plans for Nina?"

He knew this was coming. "As soon as we get a signature from Palmer, she'll tell us everything he knows."

"Who is going to handle Nina?"

"I haven't decided yet, Jack. But just because I'm dying doesn't make me crazy. It would be a disaster put you two together."

"Maybe, but if you don't do this, I'll call Division and tell them about your condition. They'll replace you within minutes." Jack's voice softened. "George, we want the same thing: to finish this and find the bomb. Please let me do it."

Mason knew that Jack would do what he said. He also knew that Jack could get results--- this morning had proved that. And it wasn't like he had to worry about his career anymore. "All right." he said.

Jack got up. "I'm sorry, George."

"For what? Blackmailing a dead man? Just go."

Jack had the decency to look sympathetic before he went downstairs. This didn't make him feel much better.

"Mr. Mason," Marshall looked around for his current boss. He ran into Jack instead--- at relatively full speed. Jack caught him before the collision did any damage to Marshall Instantly, Marshall became more contrite. "I'm sorry, Mr. Bauer…" He trailed off and blinked "Hey, I thought Michelle finished debriefing you. Shouldn't you be with your daughter?"

"There's been a change of plans." Jack said. "I'll be handling Nina Myers."

Marshall blinked again, letting his mind calculate the likelihood of that happening. He only knew the bare minimum about Jack Bauer and Nina Myers' relationship. Even he knew enough that having themin the same building was a bad idea. However, he also had enough to decorum to keep it to himself. Not to mention that, despite working with some of the scariest people on the planet on a daily basis, he was certain that he never wanted to be on Bauer's bad side.

So all he said was: "Well, I guess if you cleared it with Mr. Mason, I guess you can go in there."

And then Jack Bauer saw someone he shouldn't have. Someone who should be in prison, never mind a major government building. Someone who he recognized even with an eye patch and stubble.

Jack's eyes narrowed into slits, and his voice hardened in a way that made it sound like a blunt object. "What—what the hell is Arvin Sloane doing here?"

**12:59:57/12:59:58/12:59:59/1:00:00**


	6. 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM

**Chapter 6**

**The Following Takes Place Between 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M.**

There was one thing Sydney Bristow hated about intelligent bad guys—they knew the justice system too well, with all of its ins and outs and loopholes. Nina Myers was one of them. No one would get anything out of her without her much desired pardon. By the time she was done sizing up the competition,Sydney had realized quickly that Nina was a pro. She had left the interrogation room hoping that Mason would let her tag along with whatever poor dumb bastard ended up handling Myers.

She was therefore unprepared when she got outside and saw not only that Arvin Sloane had returned to CTU, but that Jack Bauer was honing in on him like a heat-seeking missile.

Fortunately, both Weiss and Nadia had seen what was coming and had moved in to intercept Bauer. Unfortunately, Syd had seen Jack in action, and had serious doubts that they could hold him in place. That hadn't stopped either one from trying. Weiss had both hands on one of Bauer's arms, Nadia on the other. Bauer looked like he was going to start a short-lived brawl as soon as he could escape the grasp of either one—who would also be short-lived.

"Hey, hey Jack, believe me when I tell you that you reallydon't want to do this," Weiss said in a calming voice.

Bauer continued to struggle. "This man is a traitor to this country," he roared, as he thrashed about.

"Thank you, Jack; we're aware of his resume" Weiss said.

"This man has no business being in this building!" Weiss' injuries and Jack's anger were finally enough for him to yank his arm out of Eric's grip. Jack threw his weight away from Nadia and into Weiss, firing a palm strike into Weiss's sternum that had the effect of a shove, but the force of a punch. Jack glared at Nadia and said, quite simply, "Let. Go."

Sydney couldn't believe that she was about to do this. "Agent Bauer, stand down," she said in as level a tone as she could manage.

"Do what she says." Mason had now reappeared, and was assuming command. "The man has clearance to be here."

Jack yanked his arm away from Nadia, and briefly redirected his rage toward Mason. Unfortunately, if his statement had any effect, it only made Bauer angrier. "Clearance? The government cleared him to be here?" he demanded.

Mason became suddenly calm--- almost prematurely so, to Sydney's ears"Come on, Jack, Sloane got pardoned when you were still running this unit."

"A pardon is one thing, giving him a window seat to a national crisis is something else." Jack suddenly focused his anger on Sydney. "Don't you know who he is?"

Sydney had really hoped to avoid this. "Yes, I do," she said, "and believe me when I tell you I know what he's capable of."

Jack looked around, feeling like the only sane man in the asylum. "Then why are you people defending him?"

"Because I work for him." Sydney said slowly.

Jack's voice dropped below zero. "You what?!"

"He runs a black-ops unit for the government," Sydney said. "My entire team works for him."

Bauer looked at Sydney like she was a lunatic. Then his gaze flattened to one she had seen before--- the look Jack had the instant before he had shot Goren--- and Sydney realized that all the credibility she had earned from Jack over the past four hours was gone. Bauer might never trust her again

Mason must have sensed how bad the mood was. So he did the only thing he could do. He went back to business. "Palmer signed the pardon. It'll be here any minute. How do you want to play this with Nina?"

Now Sydney felt like she had been cold-cocked. "You're letting _him _handle Nina?" she demanded. She had never considered that someone actually was going to carry out her threat to Nina.

"Why is everybody questioning my ability to do this job?' Mason asked rhetorically. "Jack knows how Nina thinks, and she's more likely to respond to him than anyone else here."

Sydney didn't buy this for one instant. An hour ago, Mason hadn't wanted Jack with a mile of the place, now he was assigning Bauer to handle Nina. What the hell had changed in that time?

"Relax, Bristow, I'm also assigning you to monitor Jack. Have fun"

If Mason had thought this would make her feel better, he was wrong.

Jack turned on Mason."When are you get that I don't need a baby-sitter?" he shouted.

"Christ, Jack, how many times do I have to save your life before---" Sydney started.

"Knock it off, children." Mason had the temerity to sound amused. "You say you can handle Nina, that's fine, Jack. But I would have to be crazier than you to leave you and Myers alone in the same room."

Mason looked around and noticed that almost everyone was watching these things play out. "Show's over, people. Let's get back to work." The other agents dispersed. Mason was about to go back to his office when he seemed to notice Sloane for the first time. "I'm so glad your injury wasn't that severe," he said straight-faced. "Place wouldn't be the same without you."

**1:06:26/1:06:27/1:06:28**

Sydney realized that after Jack's little outburst, going to talk with Sloane was the last thing he needed to see. But it couldn't be helped. Sloane might be the only person in the building who might be able to help her.

Before she went any further, she gave Sloane the once over. He had a bandage around one of his hands, a patch over one of his eyes and blood stains on his jacket. Furthermore, Syd thought that he looked a bit paler than usual, though she didn't know if this was from shock or the dressing down he had just gotten.

_Well_, she thought, at least _it's only his blood… I hope._"Are you're sure that you feel well enough to be here?" she asked flatly.

"I realize that I'm not in the best condition but I'm well enough to be doing my job." Sloane said. "Besides, a lot of good people have died. CTU needs as many hands as it can get."

_Leave it to Sloane to make doing his job seem altruistic_, Sydney thought. All she said was: "What do you know about Nina Myers?"

"Only what's in her file." Sloane said. "She betrayed CTU to Victor Drazen and his sons."

"And you know nothing else about her?" Sydney asked, unbelieving.

"I know what your opinion of traitors is, Sydney, but contrary to your belief, there is no union. We don't all know each other."

Was Sloane _joking _about his treasonous acts? That was very unlike him. Then again, it was unlike him to even demonstrate a sense of humor. Sydney shrugged it off. Not the point. "What about Yelena Bradekov? Does that name ring any bells?"

Arvin Sloane had a good memory--- he'd have to, to have his job. "I recall the name in connection with a bunch of Russian sleeper agents several years back," he said slowly. "What connection does she have with this?"

"Nina Myers used that alias when she sold the CTU schematics to Joseph Wald."

As was his way, Sloane maintained his poker face. "You believe Myers is Bradekov," he said in his measured way. "Do you have any evidence to back this up?"

"Theory and conjecture but nothing solid." Sydney admitted. "There might be some information about it at our office, but I haven't been able to get in the back door."

"Have you told Bauer this?"

"I didn't get a chance before the two of you had your face off."

"What about Myers?"

"She won't say yes; won't say no, but she didn't look pleased when I brought it up."

Sloane thought for a moment. "I can get see if I can access the APO server here, " he said. "Get whatever files on Bradekov we might have. But Sydney, all of this background might have nothing to do with today."

Sydney saw Michelle walking towards her. "I don't believe in coincidences. Not here, and not today," she told Sloane.

"The pardon's here." Michelle said. "You and Jack can begin your interrogation."

**1:10:15/1:10:16/1:10:17/1:10:18**

Michelle had handed the fax over to Mason. He briefly skimmed it, and then gave it to Jack. The two of them started walking towards the interrogation room. "How are you going to handle this?" he asked Jack.

"First I'll show her the pardon. Then I'll get her to start talking." Jack paused. "I'll make her give us everything, even the stuff she doesn't want us to know."

"Maybe I'd better go in first," Sydney said as she walked over to Jack and George. "Give her one last chance to speak before you blow the roof off the place."

Jack clearly didn't like the idea, but Mason seemed all right with it. "Don't take too long with her, " he said, giving Sydney the fax.

"George, I can handle this." Jack sounded cool and detached. Sydney didn't believe for a second that was an accurate measure of how he felt.

"Maybe so, Jack, but the last time I let you interrogate someone, you shot him through the heart. And that was someone who didn't destroy your life." Mason nodded towards Sydney. "The video feed is up. You decide when the right time is."

Sydney opened the door to the interrogation room. After she closed the door behind her, she put the fax on the table. "This is what you asked for," she said to Nina. "Now are you going to quit bullshitting us and tell us what you know about this bomb?"

Nina deliberated studied the pardon. Finally, she put it down and looked at Sydney. "All right, new meat, this is how this is going to work." Nina's tone dripped with condescension. "If you want to stop this bomb, I need to be on a plane to Visalia now."

"Do you just want to get outside the blast radius, or is there actually someone in Visalia who knows what's happening?" Sydney demanded.

"My contact is in Visalia."

"Who is it?"

Nina remained calm. "The only person who can tell us where the bomb is."

"Who is it?!" Sydney pressed.

"You don't find out until we get there."

Sydney put her hands on the table. "Nina, this is not the time to get cute," she said deliberately. "Either give us the information or this room is going to get a lot more uncomfortable."

Nina actually the gall to laugh. "I know how the protocols for this place. This isn't _NYPD Blue._ Good cop, bad cop is going to get you jack shit."

Sydney turned to the camera and gave an imperceptible nod. She hoped Jack had gotten the hint. "Maybe not, but there's one piece of the puzzle you don't have."

"What's that?"

The door opened and Nina Myers was staring at Jack Bauer. "_He_'s the bad cop," Sydney said.

Apparently Nina wasn't as good a poker player as Sloane or Sydney's mother. When Jack walked in the room, her face paled for a few seconds before she regained her composure

"Tell us who the man in Visalia is," Jack said, in a voice that was a lot colder than what Sydney had heard a few minutes earlier.

"Like I told your little chippy," Nina said calmly "I'm not telling you until I get there."

Jack turned away from her. "Fine. Then you can stay here until the blast hits."

"Stop wasting time." Now Nina was being dismissive. "I'm looking at the President's signature right now. "

"He's not here. I am. And I'm not making a move until I know you're credible."

"It's in my best interests to get results. Why wouldn't I do everything that I could to help find this bomb?"

"Because you're worse than a traitor," Jack said simply. "You don't even have a cause. You'd sell anything and everything to the highest bidder. And that includes this bomb. So stop fucking around and _give me a name_!"

Sydney had decided to give Jack some latitude because he knew Myers better than she did. So when Jack finished his statement by slamming the table to the other side of the room, all she did was cross her arms over her shoulders. Unfortunately, Nina wasn't taking this seriously enough.

"Stop being overdramatic. You lay a hand on me; they'll take you off the case."

Jack breathed heavily as he sat on the table.

"You're just going to have to follow my lead," Nina spoke calmly.

"Nina, you don't seem to get how this works," Sydney said. "They didn't bring Agent Bauer here because he likes you. He is here to get the information by any means necessary."

As if he were acting on cue, Jack sprang forward and shoved the chair Nina was cuffed to all the way back to the wall, and grabbed her throat. "You will tell me everything or I will fucking kill you before anybody can lay a goddamn hand on me. So _quit fucking with me!!"_

Unfortunately, Mason apparently didn't have the same faith that Sydney was giving Jack because he chose that moment to enter with three large security guards. "Back away now!" Mason yelled.

Sydney looked at Nina and saw Jack had finally cracked her reserve--- she was sweating now. Then he left before the guards could pull him away.

As soon as he was outside Mason spoke up. "Okay, you're done. Get out."

Jack honestly seemed surprised. "Why?"

"Why? Because you've lost your mind."

"George, right now she thinks she's won the lottery. She has all the control. You want her to talk; you have to take that away from her."

"By killing her? Yeah, that'll work," Mason said sarcastically

"Agent Bauer is right." Sydney decided to speak up on Bauer's behalf. "Take a look at Nina."

Mason looked at the monitor. Nina looked nervous for the first since they'd brought her in. "Nina's afraid now." Sydney went on. "That's more than I got out of her."

Mason took a deep breath. "Assuming I buy this, what would your next move be?"

"Let me go back in there. Show her that I'm still in charge."

Mason was a hair away from bouncing Jack regardless, but he needed results and it looked like Jack would provide them. "If I let you back in there, you better watch your ass."

"I can get her, George. Just give me five minutes, and raise the temperature in there ten degrees."

Jack walked away

Mason looked at Sydney. "You're okay with this?"

"I think it's working." What Sydney didn't add was that she didn't think it would make a difference if it did. Jack and Nina were locked on a collision course.

She also thought that there might be one last chance to get what they needed before Jack blew the doors off the place…or Nina Myers' head off.

**1:21:37/1:21:38/1:21:39/1:21:40**

Jack was readying himself to go back in when his cell rang. "Bauer."

"Jack, it's Dixon."

Jack didn't need this distraction. "What is it, Marcus?"

"I don't know if Sydney got a chance to tell you, but we just got some new intel on Nina Myers."

"In regards to what?" Jack asked.

"There may be a link between Myers and K-Directorate."

Jack was understandably stunned to hear this. He'd known Nina had links to somebody in Eastern Europe, but this was a whole new ballgame. "Why are we only learning this now?" he demanded.

"We only got the intel in the last two hours." Dixon admitted

"Wait a minute." Jack was reeling. "Have you been able to verify this through any other agencies?"

There was a pause on the other end. "So far the only agency we've been able to verify it with is our own." Dixon said reluctantly.

'Well, then why…." Jack trailed off. Suddenly, he had a gut feeling as to what was happening. He looked towards the monitor of the interrogation room holding Nina.

Sydney was now in the room.

"Son of a bitch!" Jack swore. He hung up and ran back to the room.

Sydney had no idea if the CTU security codes worked on the same systems as APO's did, and whether or not the override code she had gotten from Marshall a couple of minutes earlier would last that long. Right now, that was irrelevant. All that mattered was that she had a brief window with Nina before Bauer resumed his scorched earth policy.

"All right, Nina, " Sydney told her as she walked over to the prisoner. "In five minutes at the most, Bauer is going to break the door down, and get whatever information he can by any means necessary, pardon or no pardon. That means you've got that long to tell me everything----- and I mean everything---- you know." Sydney got in Nina's face. "Who is the man in Visalia?"

Nina had a look of disbelief on her face. "You can't be---"

Sydney had gotten sick of Nina's smugness, decided to take a page out of Bauer's handbook and shoved her chair into the wall. "I'm not repeating myself" she said icily.

"Mamoud Faheen," Nina said. "His name is Mamoud Faheen."

Someone was pounding on the door. Sydney shut it out. "We already have Faheen's name." she said in a louder tone.

"You don't know where he is. I do." Nina said.

"What's your history with him?" Sydney demanded.

"Faheen introduced me to Wald," Nina said in a rush, clearly hoping to get this done before Bauer got in

"So that Wald could buy the schematics and access codes for CTU?"

"I didn't know that it was part of a larger plan involving a nuke."

"Or what, you'd have asked for more money?" The pounding was getting louder. "Who is Faheen working with?" Sydney demanded.

"I don't know." Nina was openly sweating now.

"Bullshit!" Sydney yelled over the pounding. "Did he belong to the same agency you work for?"

Nina was silent. "You tell me, or you tell him," Sydney said in a deadly quiet tone.

'I don't know!" Nina shouted. "Faheen said that he was working with an organization that operated out of Eastern Europe. There are any number it could have been!"

Sydney knew that Myers was holding back, but she estimated that she had a minute before the door opened. "Where do we find Faheen?" Sydney demanded.

"I'll tell you when we're on the plane to Visalia." Nina said.

"Oh, screw this." Sydney said and walked to the door. She was about to open it when Nina broke.

"If I told you, you wouldn't need me anymore, and Bauer'll kill me!" Nina shouted.

The pounding stopped.

"One last thing." Sydney said, as calmly as she could. "Did you work for K-Directorate when you were aiding the Drazens?"

'No," Nina said, almost inaudibly. "When the head of K-Directorate was assassinated five years ago, there was a lot of turnover during the power struggle. I managed to squeeze through the cracks."

"And into the pockets of anyone who would hire you." Sydney turned towards the camera. "You get all that?"

Mason was already on the phone with Visalia when Sydney opened the door. Bauer made a motion to grab her when she lowered her voice. "Don't even try it," she muttered. "We don't have the time for this bullshit."

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Bauer demanded.

"I was thinking that the next step in your interrogation process was killing Nina. I thought if there was an easier way, now was the time to use it." Sydney gestured towards the obviously broken Nina. "By the way, I was right."

Jack voice got quieter. "You could have told me."

"You wouldn't have listened." Sydney grew calmer. "When you have to deal with the person who destroyed your life, your vision narrows 'til there's no one else. It takes a lot of effort to go in on an even keel, and you've had less than an hour to deal with what's happened. I learned that lesson way too soon."

Sydney walked over to Mason, waiting for the CTU director to brief them on their next step.

**1:31:59/1:32:00/1:32:01/1:32:02**

Dixon had listened to the story he had gotten from Nadia with only slight incredulity. Sydney had many strengths as an agent, but interrogation had never been high on the list. The fact that she, working in tandem with Jack, had managed to crack Nina Myers, was something that he would have thought very difficult.

"So Myers won't tell us where Faheen is?" he asked.

"She says that she'll give details when there on the ground in Visalia," Nadia said.

"Do you think it could be some kind of power play?"

"I doubt it," Nadia said. "She knows that she's screwed around about as much as she can with Syd and Jack. Besides, I think they've pretty much wrung her dry."

"Maybe not," Dixon said.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sending some intel from Division over to Marshall." Dixon said. "We've done some more background work on Faheen. Most of it's fragmented, but there is evidence that Faheen may have had ties to the Covenant."

"What kind of evidence?" Nadia asked.

"There's evidence of a money trail from Faheen to several Covenant-run businesses. Lists of transactions that correspond with the days of Faheen's attacks."

Nadia considered this. "In the first briefing we got today, they told us Faheen was controlled by Second Wave," she said. "Are we now saying they're tied to the Covenant as well?"

"I don't know." Dixon admitted. "The Covenant has always used Byzantine methods to cover its tracks. All the data that we've gathered so far has indicated they have no obvious ties to anything in the Middle East, which as far as we know is Second Wave's only territory."

"But that in itself makes no sense," Nadia argued. "An organization like the Covenant would have to keep some kind of stronghold in an Islamic region."

"I know, which is why I'm not convinced we have all the data." Dixon sighed. "Look I've got to get back to work. Sift through the information I sent you. See if there's anything that can give us some kind of lead."

"Right," Nadia said. "I'll get the update to Mason. Thank you."

"Teams are on the ground in Visalia." Mason told Jack. "Dixon got us some people from Division. They'll meet you at the airport."

"You're already sending Agent Bristow along with me," Jack argued. "I don't need this many babysitters."

"Maybe not, but I'd feel safer knowing that there were a bunch of people between you and Nina Myers."

Jack stopped walking. "George, do you think I'd sentence millions of people to die just for the satisfaction of killing her?"

Mason, who was pretty sure Jack would sacrifice anything for revenge, shrugged.

"I'll do my job," Jack insisted.

"And I'm sending Bristow and the others to make sure of that." Mason said. "Besides, you and she have been working well together so far."

Mason was momentarily frozen by another round of coughing, this time enough to alarm Jack.

"George, you should be with your family" Jack said in a lower voice.

_So should you, _Mason thought. "And you should be on the plane."

They had reached the exit. "I'll call you when we're in the air." Jack said.

"Right."

George nodded, and watched them leave. He was still uneasy about the whole deal. It wasn't so much about Nina and Jack working together as it---- no, it was exactly that. He knew that Sydney Bristow had proven she could handle Jack, that didn't worry him. What worried him was, given the similarity between their situations, that she might feel enough sympathy for Jack to let him get his revenge on Nina.

He hoped that he was wrong on both counts.

**1:37:44/1:37:45/1:37:46**

"Isn't there anyway you could find out what's happening?" Marie Warner asked Vaughn for the tenth time in the last hour.

And for the eighth time Vaughn gave the same response. "I'm sorry. It's not up to me. You'll just have to wait."

Vaughn knew perfectly well that this was not the case. He had clearance and discretion from CTU to assist or at least watch Tony interrogate Reza Nayer. Vaughn's reason for deceiving the Warner family was that he had observed something in the behavior of all of the Warners that told him that they were all keeping some kinds of secrets. Not only from the government, but also from each other. And while they might just be on the level of adultery or some closet sin, Vaughn had a feeling that they were far more serious than that. So Vaughn was observing, hoping that they would demonstrate something that would help him ferret out the truth.

_And your skills of observation have never steered you wrong_, a nagging voice in his head said. _Lauren and her mother--- you knew both of them for two years and you never suspected a thing. Talk about being blind---_

Vaughn managed to turn his mind away from that line of thought. Nothing productive would come from dwelling on the past. Better to focus on the job at hand.

Kate Warner chose that moment to reenter. "Dad, Reza's parents are here," she said.

Bob Warner was on the phone with another relative. "Tell them to come in."

Vaughn got to his feet. Observing the Warners was one thing, but if there was a chance to get any information from the Nayers, he had to take it. He knew they would doubtless be ten times more hostile than the Warners, but that was the job.

The Nayers were two middle-aged Arabs, not physically remarkable in any way.

"How's everyone holding up?" Mr. Nayer asked the family.

"Um, not too bad." Again, Kate demonstrated that she had no problem with bare-faced lies.

"So where's Reza?" Mrs. Nayer asked.

"There's been a small problem." Even Vaughn winced at the hugeness of the understatement.

The joviality left Mr. Nayer's voice. "What kind of problem?"

Vaughn decided to take Kate Warner off the hook. "Excuse me." he said, as he stood up. "My name is Michael Vaughn, I'm a government agent." He knew from experience the emotional temperature would drop twenty degrees after saying this. "One of my colleagues is interviewing your son."

"In regards to what?" Mr. Nayer's voice had gotten very cold.

"We believe there is a possible connection between your son and a known terrorist."

"There must be some sort of mistake." Mrs. Nayer said.

"I'll say there is." Mr. Nayer's rage had clearly gotten hotter fast. "This is so typical of you people. You give all this sanctimonious crap about being tolerant, but you think that every Arab is a terrorist!"

Vaughn knew that making any categorical denials would just make things worse, and making false assurances would not gain him anything with the Nayer's. So he decided to be blunt. "Mr. Nayer, I realize that this is the worst possible time for someone to be saying this, but the fact is we have a lead and it is our job to sort it out."

"Don't give me any of that 'following orders' crap!" Mr. Nayer scowled.

"Hassan," Bob Warner had just appeared, "they just showed up an hour ago. I'm sure it's nothing."

The Nayers anger and frustration seemed genuine to Vaughn. So did the Warners behavior. Was something wrong with this picture?

**1:44:22/1:44:23/1:44:24/1:44:25**

Given that Jack detested Nina Myers, that Sydney pretty much felt the same way towards her, and that the fact that Sydney worked for Sloane had pretty badly damaged any trust that Jack had in Sydney, the car ride was very quiet.

Sydney couldn't give a damn what Nina Myers felt, but she knew that whatever happened when they got to Visalia, she needed to make sure Bauer had her back. So she decided to try and do whatever damage control she could.

"Look, I realize you think that because I work for Sloane, I can't be trusted," Sydney began, "Believe me when I tell you I trust him even less than you do. Probably far less, because I know what the man is capable of. The man has betrayed me a hundred times over, and he's responsible for the deaths of people I care about, including my best friend and my fiancée."

Jack was stone-faced throughout her monologue, blinking only at the last sentence--- and even then, that might have only been an acquiescence to the human need to blink

"You're not going to win him over with tales of woe."

Sydney glared at Nina Myers. "No one was speaking to you."

"See, Jack's always been very ethical," Nina pressed on"Kind of ironic, given all the shit that this job entails. That's why my betrayal hurt him so much. It wasn't just that I'd been disloyal to this country. It was that I had betrayed him. That he had been intimate with someone who was a traitor, that hurt far worse."

"And I'm sure the fact you killed his wife had nothing to do with his wanting to see you dead," Sydney said angrily.

"Is it?" Nina said slowly. "You say Sloane had your fiancée killed, that he had the man you loved assassinated. Yet for two years you went into the same office he did, and pretended that you were loyal to him. Then after you brought him down, after all of the treasonous acts he committed, against you and your father, you both went to work for him at a black ops unit."

Jack looked up at this. Sydney was angry, more because she was wondering how this woman who had been in prison for more than a year seemed to know such about her.

"I know that Jack would kill me, if he got the chance," Nina just rolled on, seemingly oblivious as to what this was doing to Jack and Sydney. "My guess is, he probably will, even if he ends up going to prison for the rest of his life. But you," she turned her attention back to the other woman, "you know what Sloane's capable of. You know how much damage that he can do on his own. And now he has the full resources of the U.S. government backing him. So I guess what's bothering Jack is how you can just let him do this."

"Enough," Jack finally said. "Don't engage her," he said looking at Nina. "We're going to have enough problems when we get to Visalia. As for you," he said, turning his attention to Sydney. "You should have told me who you worked for. Furthermore," he added in a harsh whisper. You withheld vital information from me during the course of an interview, denied me information that I could have used against her regarding K-Directorate. I've been jerked around by Division, by politics, by the other side, and I don't need it from you, understand? But we're on the same side, at least for this. I won't make your job any harder than it is. We're just going to have to trust each other." He amplified his stare. "That alright with you?"

"I can live with that," Sydney said.

"But this conversation is not over," Jack continued. "And I don't want you to think I'm going along with this for any other reason than I have to. Is that clear?"

Even though Sydney had expected something like this, she was still miffed. "Crystal."

She took a bottle of water from the back of the truck. She unscrewed the lid, and was about to take a sip when something occurred to her, something simultaneously ultra-paranoid and very plausible.

She decided to wait to have a drink until Jack took a sip of his own.

She wasn't surprised when he didn't.

**1:52:28/1:52:29/1:52:30/1:52:31**

Vaughn figured he had gotten about as good a feel for the Warners as he was going to get. It was time to see what Tony had gotten out of Nayer. So he walked to the room where the two of them were.

As he opened the door, he heard Nayer denying—probably not for the first time---- that he had transferred money into an account linked to Sayed Ali.

"Well, you better tell me who did," Tony demanded "or I'm taking you in."

"Look, why are you doing this me?" he pleaded.

Nayer's whiny attitude punctured Tony's calm. "Friends of mine, who were doing their best to protect the citizens of this country, were murdered today," he spat at Nayer. "Probably by the same people you're funding." Now he glared at the man. "That a good enough reason?"

"Tony." Vaughn said in a low but commanding voice. "Can I have a word with you?"

Tony appeared to notice Vaughn for the first time. Without saying anything, he walked up to the door.

"He hasn't given us anything," Vaughn stated.

"No," Tony said hoarsely. "And I don't know how much more I can push him without resorting to violence." He looked at the foyer. "Have you gotten anything from the Warners?"

Vaughn shook his head. "The father says that Nayer has been a fine employee who has never given him any reason for suspicion. Aside from looks that could kill and a bunch of hostility, the fiancée has been singularly unwilling to talk with me." He lowered his voice a little. "Her sister, on the other hand, thinks that Nayer's doing something wrong."

"Any reason for her suspicion?" Tony asked.

"Maybe it was nothing more than the desire to protect her sister," Vaughn said. "She hired a private investigator to look into Mr. Nayer's background. The P.I.'s the one who spotted the original transfer of funds to Ali. Investigator's name was Paul Copeland."

"You got a number where we can reach this Copeland?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what good contacting him is going to get us. At best, all he can offer is corroboration that this transfer happened. Probably gets us no closer to finding Ali."

Vaughn looked inside the room. Something occurred to him. "Maybe there's an easier way to get him to talk." Vaughn looked around, and then raised his voice. "I say if he's not giving us anything, we take him back to CTU."

"What are you…" Tony trailed off, as he saw that Reza's parents were now in the foyer, talking avidly with the Warners. "Fine." Tony walked back to Reza, and told him to stand up.

"Place your hands behind your head," Tony said. As he took out his cuffs, Vaughn looked at him.

"It's a shame your parents are going to have to see this." Vaughn looked at Reza. "Coming in to see their son's wedding, and now seeing you like this, it'll break their hearts. I know my mother would never live through it."

Tony was about to pull him to the door, when Reza caved. "All right, all right." He turned around. "I confirmed the transfers but I didn't make them." Nayer appeared disheartened. "I was just covering for the person who did. I didn't want him to get into any trouble."

"Who?" Tony asked. Reza remained silent. "Tell us, or we will go through with it."

There was another long hesitation. Vaughn was just about to tell Tony to do it anyway, when Reza finally turned his head away from them. "Bob Warner."

Vaughn looked at Tony. _Well, the good news is we don't have to go that far to talk to the next guy, _he thought.

"I'll get him in here," Vaughn said.

"When you get to Visalia, the teams will have been assembled." Dixon told Sydney.

"Tactical and field?" Sydney asked.

"You should get confirmation when you're in the air. Air traffic between here and Visalia has been cleared; you should be on the ground fifteen minutes after take-off." Dixon hesitated.

"There anything else that I need to pass on to Bauer?" Sydney asked.

"No, but maybe you can tell me something," Dixon asked. "Do you think it's the right call for Jack to be heading this mission?"

"Didn't Mason already clear this with you?' Sydney asked.

"This has nothing to do with paperwork." Dixon said. "Has Jack given you any indication how he intends to use Nina once he gets to Visalia?"

Sydney lowered her voice. "I don't think we can figure that out until Nina tells us what we need to know." she said carefully. "And seeing as the only times that she has been cooperative was when she was afraid of Bauer, then yes, I think we need him here."

"I'm aware of that. But Syd," Dixon paused "God knows we're the last people who should be giving advice on whether it's safe to work with your sworn enemy, but at least we've had time to deal with it. Jack's had less than two hours since he learned Nina was being set free."

"You're saying that he would be better off if he'd had a couple of days to get used to the idea?" Sydney said incredulously. She didn't wait for an answer. "Look, I'll admit I don't know Bauer, but he's managed to keep it together and he's been pretty effective. If he says he can handle this, I think we have to take him at his word."

The vehicle had come to a stop. "Look, we're at the airport. I'll call you when we're in Visalia."

"You'll keep an eye on Jack?" Dixon asked.

Sydney looked at Jack. "Like a hawk."

**1:59:57/1:59:58/1:59:59/2:00:00**


	7. 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM

**Chapter 7**

**The Following Takes Place Between 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.**

_WARDEN AIR BASE_

_LOS ANGELES_

The row of cars pulled up on to the tarmac, just short of the airplane. The back doors of the armored vehicle were opened and Jack and Sydney came out with the shackled Nina Myers.

Sydney looked at Jack. His expression hadn't changed since their last conversation. "Dixon says field and tactical teams have been assembled," she said slowly as they walked to the plane.

"Good," was all Jack would say.

"I'm just curious," Sydney said. "You didn't dope my drink, by any chance?"

Jack just glanced at her, briefly, before looking straight ahead again."What are you talking about?"

"Well, you want to be Nina Myers' sole handler, and you've already made it clear that you're not my biggest fan; I'm just wondering if you wanted to kill two birds with one stone." Sydney wished she could take that last phrase back.

Jack's expression didn't change. If his stone-like expression didn't change soon, she was going to ask him if he had ever taken lessons from her father in holding a poker face."Agent Bristow, you've already proved how skilled you are in handling yourself when attacked. I have no doubt that if I made an effort to remove you from your post, you could fight me off. "

Sydney didn't say anything this. She knew it was true.

"Beside, George made it clear that he's not going to let me alone with Nina, no matter what I think." Jack finally turned to Sydney. "So the answer to your question is, no, I didn't put anything in your drink."

"Good."

"But make no mistake; Mason put me in charge of handling Nina," Jack said. "You want to help, fine. But I'm calling the shots here, and don't forget it."

By now they had reached the plane. The agent on the scene handed Jack the papers he needed to travel with Nina Myers. "The agents who are traveling with you are already on board."

"I wouldn't be too sure of your position, Sydney," Nina chimed in, her voice irritatingly "helpful" with her suggestion "On this trip, you are definitely going to be the third wheel."

"Shut up and get on the plane," Sydney ordered. "And it's Agent Bristow to you."

They climbed on board. Jack headed towards the back of the plane where the other agents were seated. "We're gonna need two lines of communication with CTU," he told them. "One mobile and one for the translations. Gonna be tricky 'cause their phone lines are shaky."

"It's already done," said the agent on the right.

Sydney looked at Jack. "God bless Marshall," she said as she took her seat.

The plane began taxiing down the runway.

Dixon knew that Sydney could handle Nina Myers and Jack Bauer if it came down to a direct confrontation. However, he also knew that Syd wasn't going to give her full attention to them. If she was distracted for long enough, Jack could take advantage of that opportunity to kill Nina. He knew all too well that it took a lot of strength to be on the same side as the person who'd murdered your wife, and not act on your impulse.

He knew he was that strong a person. He proved if every day that he came to work and Arvin Sloane went home alive. He couldn't imagine Jack doing the same thing.

His cell rang, interrupting his reverie. "Division, Dixon," he said.

"Dixon, is this line secure?"

The phrase _speak of the devil_ had never had truer meaning. "That depends, Sloane. Are you using your own cell?" he said, wondering what this was all about.

"I am. But you can never be a hundred percent certain about anything in this world, especially today."

Any reflective side of Sloane's personality was about as irritating as sand in an open wound."Why did you call?" Dixon growled

"Because I couldn't reach Sydney, and I can't afford to distract anyone else from finding the bomb." Sloane took a deep breath. "I have reason to believe that there are elements within the government who may have interests contrary to that of President Palmer."

Dixon immediate reaction, considering the source, was to dismiss Arvin and tell him to shove his "reasons" in the darkest hole Sloane could find, and seal himself in with them. Instead, he asked,"On what do you base your intel?"

"I have several sources at Defense, State, and throughout the intelligence community," Sloane said. "Several of those sources have reported events that might be part of a larger conspiracy. After Raeburn was removed as director of NSA, President Palmer had a meeting with the Saudi ambassador. As we both know, Saudi Arabia… supposedly… supports Second Wave. At that meeting they agreed to some sort of information exchange relating to the bomb," Sloane swallowed. "The President agreed to this exchange against the advice of Stanton at NSA and members of his own staff. The Saudi ambassador was in the process of taking that information to his government, when the helicopter he was in crashed."

Dixon had known about the helicopter crash but not the information exchange. "I'll admit that's a different angle on this, but that isn't enough to suggest that Stanton or anyone else is complicit in some sort of vast conspiracy."

"The President had made it clear very early in this crisis that there was to be no evacuation of personnel, civilian or military from Los Angeles. Less than an hour ago, the President had to countermand an order of evacuation of military personnel from the city. Stanton gave that order, claiming that it was in place before he took command."

"Itcould have been a mistake."

Sloane gave a humorless chuckle. "You don't get to as high a position as Stanton does by making that sort of mistake; you know that as well as I do."

"So, what," Dixon asked "Roger Stanton is some kind of enemy agent?"

"I know it may sound ridiculous coming from me," Sloane admitted, "but the circumstances are more than a little suspicious, wouldn't you say?"

The whole thing had a suspicious odor, but Dixon knew that he couldn't ignore the possibility. And besides, in terms of enemy agents, it took one to know one."How do you want to handle this?" Dixon asked reluctantly.

"For now, we do nothing," Sloane said. "I'll keep in touch with my sources. See if Stanton has anything suspicious in his history. If I find something, I'll report it to you. But don't repeat it to anyone else in the chain of command."

_Right_, Dixon thought. "I'll go along with this for now. But if you come up with corroborating evidence, I'm going to Chapelle. In the meantime keep your ear to the ground.

And then the devil in his head made him add "That's where it belongs."

**2:09:44/2:09:45/2:09:46**

"How's your Arabic?" Mason asked over the phone.

"Pretty good," Sydney said. "But you'd better have someone at CTU ready to run back-up."

"What about Jack and Nina? How are they playing together?"

"How do you think?" Before Mason could answer, she added, "Nina knows that she's on a very short leash. Hopefully, Bauer will have enough sense not to overstep his bounds."

'"Cause Jack's been demonstrating such good sense," Mason added.

"Sir, you're the one who decided to let Bauer run point on this," Sydney said hotly. "Now is a lousy time to be having doubts."

"I know that, Sydney" Mason said. "I was never wild about them bringing Jack here in the first place. But the man gets results and God knows we need some big ones, so…"

Mason was interrupted by another spasm of coughing. For reasons Sydney couldn't pin down, this was starting to worry her. This was like the fourth time she'd heard Mason racked with coughing since she'd come back to CTU. "Sir, are you all right?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," Mason said. "Call me back when you're on the ground."

Then before Sydney could say anything more, he hung up.

Sydney knew, given everything that was happening, worrying that George Mason had whooping cough should be low on the priority list. But the CTU director had been acting erratically ever since she they'd met, and if that was affecting his ability to do his job---

She put that idea out of her head. As lousy as a human being Mason seemed to be, if he was relieved of his command Sloane would probably be put in charge. And that idea worried her nearly as much as the crisis they were in.

So reluctantly she put her worries on hold. "How long until we reach Visalia?" she asked one of the other agents.

"Less than ten minutes," one told her.

Jack had walked toward Nina. "How far from the airport is the man in Visalia?"

Nina narrowed her eyes. "I'll tell you after we land. Could I have some water?"

Jack then grabbed Nina by the shoulders. "We're fighting the clock, Nina, so stop screwing around. _How far from the airport is Faheen?_"

Sydney walked over to Jack. "When we're on the ground, you can start messing with her," she said firmly. "Right now, threatening here bring us nothing."

For a moment she thought Jack was going to keep menacing her anyway. Then he pulled back. "Fine" he muttered. "Get her changed. I need her to look like a civilian."

Sydney unbuckled Nina's seatbelt and was about to take her to the back of the plane when Jack spoke up again. "No. She changes here. She doesn't leave my sight."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not joking," Jack said. "She doesn't leave my sight until we're on the ground; I don't care if she has to go to the bathroom."

"It's all right, Agent Bristow," Nina said in a deceptively soft tone. "It's not like he hasn't seen me naked before."

Sydney definitely didn't like the idea of Nina getting off on this conflict, so she decided to let this dog sleep. "Fine," she acquiesced. Sydney moved back to her chair, sitting in front of Jack."How are you going to use her?" Sydney asked.

This time, Jack smiled with an amused malice as he quoted Nina back at Sydney."I'll tell you when we're on the ground."

Suddenly, Sydney noticed Jack had another file in front of him. And it wasn't Nina or Faheen's. "What the hell are you doing with this?" she demanded.

"I needed some information," Jack said coolly.

"So ask me. There's no need to be going through _my _file!" Sydney said angrily. "Where's the goddamn trust?"

"This has nothing to do with trust" Jack said. "This is about finding the right way to get in the door with Faheen."

"And you think that something I know will do it?" Sydney demanded.

"I have to have all the bases covered," Jack said. "Make sure that there are no more surprises waiting in the wings. Understand?"

_What the hell, _Sydney thought. "All right," she said. "But after this, you better be off my case."

With that Sydney sat down, watching Nina as she put on the clothes they had brought on.

"By the way, how the hell did you get my file?"

"I asked your friend Marshall. He can be very helpful."

**2:17:12/2:17:13/2:17:14/2:17:15**

"Jack and Nina are about to land in Visalia," Michelle told Mason.

Mason closed his eyes for a moment"Has Jack got the location of Faheen yet?"

"No. Not until they land."

Mason heaved a sigh. "Okay. Stay on top of it." He hesitated for a beat. "Could you send Flinkman up here?"

Michelle hesitated, and then said: "All right."

Marshall came up warily. As was the case whenever he was in a new environment, he was vaguely afraid that he'd done something wrong. Actually, come to think about it, he was always wary when summoned by any commanding officer. Then again, he worked for Jack Bristow and Arvin Sloane, which could be creepy in its own right. Not to mention that he dealt…

He snapped out of his train of thought as he realized he was already in Mason's office. "You sent for me, Mr. Mason?" he asked tremulously."

"Come in." Mason nodded.

"Do we have any word on, ah, Paula?" Marshall asked.

"As far as I know, she's still on the table." Mason said. "By the way, that was top-notch work recovering the encryption code from the server."

If anything this made Marshall even more anxious. He didn't think that Sloane had thanked him five times for his tech support in all the years he'd known him. Hearing it from Mason made it sound even weirder. "Um, thank you, sir," he said timidly.

"I realize that you're busy," Mason said, "and this isn't something I'd normally ask someone like you, but um…" Mason pushed forward a piece of paper."I need someone to do a back-trace on a phone number and get me an address."

Now Marshall was even more baffled. "Um, you could've emailed that down to me, and I'd have been more than ready----"

"It's got nothing to do with the nuke, Marshall," Mason said softly. "And I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone else that you were doing the trace."

"Um, sir, I'm not sure that I understand what---" Marshall then looked down on the piece of paper, and he saw that there what the name above the number was. He got it then… or some of it anyway.

"I'll have it for you as soon as I can." Marshall picked up the piece of paper, and left without asking anymore questions.

Marshall was a tech, but he was also a father.

_Davenport Airport_

_Visalia_

Jack had wasted no time in getting Nina to her feet and cuffing her hands behind her back. In a short while, he was going to have to give up custody of this woman, so he intended to spend as much time as they had left reminding her who was in charge.

"Get moving," he ordered as the stairway from the exit was lowered.

The three of them walked down the tarmac, Sydney first, Nina second and Jack behind her. The other agents trailed behind invisibly.

An agent wearing a black jacket came out to meet him, holding out his hand. "Agent Mason Doherty, FBI."

"Jack Bauer, Sydney Bristow, Agents Miller and Harris," Jack introduced his colleagues.

"We're all set up," Doherty said. "All we need is a location.

"Where are we going, Nina?" When Nina didn't answer right away, he yanked on her wrist."What's the location?" he demanded.

"A thrift store on Valley."

"What's the name?" Doherty demanded.

"Crescent Collectibles." Nina seemed reluctant to give up that much.

Jack turned backed to Doherty. "What's our transport?"

"Three teams, three vehicles, all ready on your orders," Agent Doherty said. "Crescent Collectibles is in the Dianza District, about a mile from here. We can set up the base here."

"Do it." Jack pushed Nina towards the van closest to them. "She stays with me" he told Sydney.

"And I'm staying with you," Sydney warned. "Care to let me in on your plan?"

"I'm gonna use her."

"Use her how?" asked Sydney.

All Jack would say was. "You'll see."

Sydney didn't say anything else. A picture was forming in her mind, and she thought it was a very dangerous one.

She didn't raise an objection because it probably wouldn't be dangerous for her… and the more time she spent with Nina Myers, the less she cared what happened to her.

**2:23:31/2:23:32/2:23:33**

Sloane walked past his daughter and touched her on the shoulder. "Nadia."

"What is it, Dad?" Nadia was never quite certain how to address her father at work. Sydney had no problem talking with her father but their relationship was far more established than that between her and Sloane.

"I've been trying to get an update on what's happening," Sloane told her "What with the bombing and the arrival of Nina Myers, I'm still not up to speed on everything that we've found over the last three hours."

Nadia was a little surprised by this. As head of APO, her father was relentless in making sure he was kept up to speed on every detail of an operation. Then again, he wasn't in command here and he had been in the hospital a couple of hours ago.

"Mason led a raid on a warehouse just inside the city limits and found a residual amount of weapons-grade nuclear material. Langley is using satellite playback to find out who was there. A suspect was killed on the scene but we've had a hard time identifying the body. A couple of hours ago, Tony and Vaughn went to track down the connection to Sayed Ali we found. The man they were talking with is Reza Nayer. They checked in about an hour ago. Vaughn said that they hadn't gotten very far with the man."

Her father was silent for a few moments. Nadia couldn't help but notice how pale he looked. "Dad, are you sure that you're all right?" she asked reluctantly.

"I was in a building that exploded, Nadia," Sloane said quietly. "Anyone who says that he's all right after an explosion of this magnitude would be lying."

"That's not what I meant, " Nadia said. "You sure you shouldn't still be in hospital?"

Sloane spoke in a gentle tone that he didn't use much, even with her. "Nadia, I'll be fine. Besides, I wouldn't feel right resting when so many others have gone to their graves today."

That sounded like the right words, and Nadia desperately wanted to believe them. But considering how much everyone at CTU seemed to hate her father, she wondered if the more productive thing for the unit was for him to be somewhere else. She hated the people at CTU for thinking this way.

She also hated them because there was truth behind it.

"What's our time and visibility?" Sydney asked Doherty.

"From the time we get in, we estimate thirty seconds."

"What about going through the roof?"

"We're looking through the plans to see if it's viable."

Jack spoke up for the first time in a few minutes. "If he's so willing to die, why didn't he get out of Los Angeles?"

"Faheen doesn't want to be collateral damage but that doesn't mean he won't give up his life for the cause."

"We can't take that chance," said Sydney. "We need him alive."

"What about gas canisters?" asked Doherty.

"Won't do any good," said Nina. "He knows all our protocols and he's ready for them."

"How does he know all our protocols?"

"She gave them to him," Jack fixed Nina with a poisonous look. "It doesn't matter. You're going in."

Now Nina started to look worried. "You can't be serious,"

"He knows who you are."

Nina shook her head. "He also thinks I'm in prison."

Jack pushed Nina towards one of the cars. "Then you'd better convince him you got out."

Nina stopped moving. "The day the bomb is going to go off? He'll know I'm lying."

"You're a good liar, Nina," Jack said grimly. "The only way he's going to know is if you let him." He yanked open a door and pushed her in.

"He's gonna put a bullet in my head before I can say hello," Nina argued, "and then he's going to turn the gun on himself!"

Jack slammed the door shut. "We'll make sure he doesn't turn the gun on himself."

Even Sydney raised a brow at that. "Jack, are you sure this is the right play?"

Jack glared at Sydney. "Don't tell me you're taking her side."

"Hey, if we lose her before we can get to Faheen, we have nothing."

"This is our only shot at stopping this nuke," Jack said. "And we don't have time to come up with a better plan."

Sydney knew Jack was right about that. She knew Nina had been good at fooling people in the past. She just hoped that she could pull it off this time.

**2:31:49/2:31:50/2:31:51/2:31:52**

Mason took a swig of bottled water. "How it going?" he asked Michelle.

"All the channels are open; all we need now is the feed."

Mason put down the water. "Make sure the translation program is on line, too," he said.

Weiss spoke up. "Sydney knows Arabic."

"Do I really need to explain fail-safe contingencies to you?" George said, exasperatedly. "We need someone on ourend to make sure there are no screw-ups. All right?"

Weiss knew better than to argue. "Fine."

"Mr. Mason" a techie interrupted. "I have Tony Almeida on the line."

"Hold it." George walked over to the phone. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Nayer's starting to talk," Tony said. "He claims that Bob Warner made the transfers to Sayed Ali. Of course Warner is denying he knows anything about it."

Mason considered this. "Bring them both in," he said. "We'll separate them, turn up the heat."

"Are you giving me the OK to arrest these people?" Tony asked.

"If that's what it takes."

"What charges?" Tony asked.

Mason shrugged. "I don't care if it's jaywalking; just bring them in."

"Okay." Tony hung up.

"How long until we are ready to go?" Mason asked.

"Less than ten minutes" Michelle responded.

"All right," George said. "Let me know when Nina is on the move."

Mason walked over to Marshall's area of the floor. He lowered his voice. "You get anything on the number I gave you?"

"Um, yes, sir, Mr. Mason." Marshall looked through some of the papers. "I have a residence and a place of employment for the man you're looking for."

George raised an eyebrow. "I didn't think you'd be able to get that one," he said, surprised. "Thanks a lot."

"Um, Mr. Mason," Marshall said, "I know that it's none of my business that you want to try and contact" Marshall lowered his own voice"your son. But you really think that you should be expending all this energy on it?"

George was quiet for a few seconds. "You married, Marshall?" he asked.

As someone who routinely went off on tangents in his own conversations, Marshall was only minimally set back by the question. "For about a year," he said.

"You got kids?"

"Yeah, he's just over six months now. " Marshall smiled. "He's great. Eats all his Gerber's, started crawling a little while ago…" He trailed off. He knew, despite Mason's words, that he didn't care about his son.

"I was a shitty father," Mason said. "From the day John was born, he never came first. I don't know if it was the job or me or…" Now Mason trailed off. "I never cared for him or his mother as much as I should have."

Up until that point Marshall had thought Mason wanted to find his son to tell him to get out of LA. Now another idea was starting to occur to him--- one that could have consequences beyond his job. "Mr. Mason, are you all right?"

Abruptly, Mason's mood changed. "I'm fine, Marshall," he said swiftly. "I just want to make sure my son is safe." He began to walk away. "Thanks for your help."

Mason walked back towards his office. As he did, he ran into Sloane.

"Arvin, could I have a moment of your time?"

The sarcasm in Mason's voice was so clear that only a deaf man could have not noticed it. But Mason got that Sloane seemed to have some kind of force-field that let it just go right through him. "What is it?" he said neutrally.

"You're up to speed on the situation with Reza Nayer and the Warners?" he asked his APO counterpart.

"Yes, I just talked to Agent Vaughn a few minutes ago. He brought me up to speed."

"Tony and Vaughn are bringing Warner and Nayer to CTU. I want you to monitor them until I get there. I've got a meeting that can't wait."

Sloane looked curious. "With whom?"

Mason stiffened. "None of your damn business."

"George, there's no reason for this continued hostility. I know that you're upset that you're working with me, but if you get over your stubbornness, you'll find I can be of assistance."

"I know, Sloane, which is why I'm giving this detail to you. But don't take this to mean I trust you or that we're ever going to be friends." Mason pointed downstairs. "Now go over to holding and get to work. I have to keep on top of Visalia."

Sloane meekly retreated. For what had to be the fifth time that day, George wondered what Agency idiot had decided this traitor deserved to run his own unit. He realized, however, that it was futile to wonder, because he was probably going to go to his grave without ever learning the truth.

One of the reasons Mason was insistent on heading CTU was because he didn't want the possibility to arise that Sloane would _**h**_ave to take over for him. He also knew that the time was coming where he would have to decide who would replace him. He just didn't want to face it yet.

_But soon, _he thought, _I'm going to have to deal with it. And my instincts haven't been working so well for me today._

**2:41:01/2:41:02/2:41:03/2:41:04**

The car slowed down. "All right," Jack said to Nina. "Once we get an ID through your camera, we'll be inside in thirty seconds. Get out." When Nina hesitated, Jack got pissed. "Get out!"

Nina got out of the car and began walking the remaining two blocks to Crescent Collectibles. Sydney got on the wire. "All units, be advised: Nina is in play."

A few seconds later, Jack got out of the car. Sydney had been less than thrilled with this, but she couldn't dispute the logic: It was possible because of her connections to the Covenant that someone in Faheen's organization might recognize her. This was a case when Jack's being out of play for more than a year would be a bonus.

As Nina walked to Faheen's store, Jack put his com in. "Staying on frequency one. Sydney, you there?"

"Copy," Sydney said. "Video feed ready on your command."

"Right. Moving into position."

From the car, Sydney watched Nina's progress through a camera that was hidden on Nina's neck. She saw Nina approach an Arabic woman and tell her that she needed to talk with Mamoud. The woman denied Nina was there until she said: "Tell Mamoud that Nina wants to seem him," in Arabic. The woman backed away and had a heated conversation with someone out of shot.

Finally, the woman came back. "Follow me," she said. She then led Nina into the back of the store. The second she was inside, they forced Nina to the wall and searched her for weapons. The agents outside could only pray no one looked at her pendant too closely.

"Sydney, all I'm getting is static," Bauer said. "What are they talking about?"

Sydney was fluent in Arabic, but these people were speaking low and fast. Still, she was getting the gist of it. "They're asking how she got out of prison. Nina says she escaped." Then there was movement. "They're taking her further back into the store. Looks like the room near the east exit."

Nina approached a room with beaded curtains. "She's talking to someone in the next room. Lighting's not very good; I can't tell whether it's Faheen." Nina began to speak again. "She's still explaining how she got out of prison. I'm not sure they're buying it."

"Can you tell if it's Faheen?" Michelle's voice said in her ear.

"We can't move in untilwe have confirmation of the target," Jack pressed. "Is it Faheen?"

"I can't tell," Sydney admitted. "He's still in shadow."

Then the screen went dark. "Shit!" Sydney yelled. "I just lost visual!"

"That's it." Jack said. "We have to move in now!"

Sydney got out of the car, pulled out her weapon and ran for the store. By the time she got there, the FBI had smashed in the entry point in the ceiling, and a firefight had broken out. Before Sydney could reach the door, Agents Miller and Harris had smashed it down, and bullets were flying out of it.

_Why can't they ever go quietly? _Sydney thought to herself as she began firing. She didn't know how many men were in Crescent Collectibles, but there were already three dead Arabs on the ground.

An Arab armed with an M16 was firing from behind the cash register. The stream of fire had already taken out two agents. Sydney threw herself against the nearest wall and fired three shots at the terrorist. One of them caught him in the neck and he fell to the ground, squeezing a final round of shots as he fell.

There were at least three more terrorists shooting at them, but Sydney paid them little mind. She had to find Faheen before he took his own life. She ran to the eastern part of the building, where she thought Faheen had been hiding.

Another terrorist ran at her firing a Hauser 10. Sydney dropped and fired as she rolled. Both of her shots found her mark, and the Arab went down.

_He's the distraction, _Sydney thought. _He was there to buy Faheen time_. She quickened her pace.

In the back she found Faheen with a gun under his chin. Without slowing to think, she fired a shot into the terrorist's arm. His gun fell to the ground and he collapsed.

With Faheen in sight, Sydney came back to herself. The shooting had stopped. The government, by benefit of superior numbers, had prevailed. "Faheen's been injured!" Sydney shouted. "Get him out of here and get ready to prep him!"

Agent Doherty had came in behind him. "Where's Myers?" he shouted.

Because Sydney was concerned that Faheen stayed alive, she didn't process the question for a moment. Then as she got to her feet, it hit her. "Jack, we have Faheen. Do you copy?"

There was nothing but static on the other end. "Jack, do you copy?" Sydney knew she was wasting her breath. "That stupid bastard," she muttered. "Seal the building off!" she ordered Doherty. "Make sure no one gets out. Michelle!" she said, turning her com to frequency two. "I need satellite telemetry showing me what exit Nina used to get out of the building!"

"We're on it." Michelle said.

Sydney knew that when they found Nina, they'd find Jack. She just hoped that they got to Jack first.

**2:50:28/2:50:29/2:50:30/2:50:31**

Jack caught up with Nina in the next building over--- he knew he was on the right track when he found the dead cop with a missing weapon. He found her less than a hundred yards away in a stairwell about to blast open a locked door.

"Drop it," he ordered. Nina hesitated for a long time before finally dropping the gun. She then raised her hands over head, walked down the stairs, turned around and fell to her knees.

Jack very slowly walked up to her.

And then he put his gun to her head.

Sydney sped along the hallway, nearly tripping over a dead body as she went. Considering the tendency of Jack Bauer to leave corpses in his wake, she felt she was hot on his trail.

A moment later, she found out that she was right.

Jack and Nina were at the top of a staircase. Jack had Nina on her knees, hands behind her head. The gun was clearly on the ground, Nina was disarmed.

There was a problem, of course, since Sydney couldn't have _anything_ easy in her life.

Jack wasn't going for his cuffs, and his gun was pressed against the back of Myers' head. He slowly ground the barrel against it, and Sydney didn't need to ask what Jack was doing.

She raised her gun, and opened her mouth, ready to tell him to stop. Then she paused. Why should she? Nina was no longer useful. And she was becoming more and more apathetic about Nina's continued existence the longer she tried to play Bauer off against anyone else in CTU. She knew it would piss him off, and it didn't matter.

Sydney had realized just what else she didn't like about Nina Myers.

Nina was Arvin Sloane, only younger and female.

Both traitors, both master manipulators, murderers, and both given a new lease on freedom by the same country they'd betrayed.

At the moment, the only difference was that Jack Bauer could kill Nina without fail, and no one would care enough about her to pursue the matter. Oops, Nina was dead, so sorry about that…how about we get that nuke?

Arvin Sloane had bought his continued freedom with Rimbaldi souvenirs; Nina with a far more fleeting currency.

And she had a far more dangerous adversary on her tail.

Sydney blinked, and wondered just how much that said about her—that Jack Bauer could settle all accounts with his wife's killer, and Sydney hadn't with the man who had murdered her fiancé and her best friend.

If Arvin Sloane had been in the same position—arrested, incarcerated, and moments away from being let loose upon the world with only his word that he would be a good little villain from now on—would she be in Jack's position, right this moment, with her gun against Sloane's skull?

No. Never.

Well, probably not…

Probably.

All of the introspection was over in a split second. She slowly lowered her weapon, wondering just how similar she and Jack Bauer were.

Sydney hadn't even known she had been holding her breath when Jack had pulled the handcuffs from his belt and yanked Nina's arms behind her back. He pulled Nina to her feet and turned to go back down the stairs.

And Sydney was there, waiting for them. Her gun was down, and her posture had already relaxed…she had to have been there for more than a second. She knew what he was about to do.

Jack nodded at her, and mouthed, quite clearly, "Thank you."

Bristow nodded as the two of them came down the stairs. Nina's eyes widened with terror—coming to the same conclusion Jack had. Neither of them wanted to keep her alive.

Sydney watched Nina's reptilian gaze register the terror, and something occurred to her. Nina had been having far too much fun at her expense, trying to play her and Jack against each other.

It was time for that game to change.

Sydney moved with lightning quickness as the two ex-CTU agents walked by her. She grabbed Myers and pushed her back towards the stairs.

Jack took a step back, habitually reaching for his gun, but paused, hand in mid-reach. "What the Hell?"

Bristow's gaze was on Nina, blanking out Jack altogether. This was a side of her Jack hadn't even suspected was there—her eyes were narrowed, mouth set in a hard line, and her gun was up and leveled at Nina.

Sydney took a step back from Nina. "Run."

Nina blinked, mouth slightly ajar, eyes wide with fear. "What?"

"I. Said. Run," Bristow repeated in a low, hard voice. She did not yell it, and her voice wasn't even above conversational volume, but it was deep and cold. "Your gun is still up there. Go get it." Sydney smiled evilly. "I'll wait for you."

Jack raised his brows and took a cautious step towards Sydney, and gently advised, "You don't want to do this."

Sydney allowed one corner of her mouth to turn up in a smirk. "Oh, come on, Agent Bauer. It's what you want, right? Nina dies, and we can all get back to finding the nuke." Her gaze was fixed and locked on Myers. "You see, she made a mistake. I deal with a traitor every day of my life, so she thought that I was the harmless one. What she doesn't get is I don't like dealing with Arvin Sloane. I despise him. I want him dead. And she's spent the last two hours trying to mimic him." Her brows darkened. "You're such a good judge of people, Nina, what do you think my thoughts have been about since you decided to play games with us? I don't know you, and I have no problem dealing with you.

Jack studied her for a long moment, considering what she was doing. This didn't fit with the character of the woman he'd been working with for half a day.

He sighed. "No, Agent Bristow, I don't think we should." He slowly moved towards Nina and pulled her up by her shoulders. "Get to the assault team," he growled, pushing her in their direction.

Nina scurried away in fear.

Sydney waited until she was out of earshot to ask normally, "Do you really want to throw your life away for that piece of detritus?" She stood next to him and slid her gun away. "I've been in this situation, Jack. Her life's not worth it. Not at the cost of your own."

Jack nodded. "Have you secured Faheen?"

"He's being prepped for interrogation."

"Good." They stood there a moment. "Thank you."

"You said that before…for what?"

"For letting me stop myself." He said ruefully. "It's nice to have _someone_ trusting my judgment for once."

Sydney smiled. "When you work undercover as long as I have, you have to have a little method to your madness."

Jack glanced at her. "And what method is that?"

"I just kept thinking of Sloane."

Bauer finally smiled. "Well, for a moment, you almost fooled me."

Sydney nodded casually, brushing it off…she was just afraid of one thing.

For a few seconds there, she actually thought she meant it, too.

**2:53:59/2:54:00/2:54:01**

"Who's Mason talking with?"

Marshall didn't jump up from his work this time, mainly because the person who'd snuck up on him was generally not hostile. "Hey, Weiss," he said calmly. "Your ribs okay?"

"A little sore, but otherwise they're fine." Weiss said. He felt around his bandages around his head. "You didn't answer my question."

Marshall looked up at Mason's office. Less than a minute ago, two members of the LAPD had brought in a young guy in his late teens-early twenties. "I don't know." Marshall said.

"You have any idea why Mason sent two cops to pick him up?"

Marshall hesitated again. "I don't know." This denial sounded weaker than the last one.

"Is he some kind of informant?" Weiss kept questioning. "Does he have any information on the nuke?"

"I don't know." Weakest reply yet.

"Marshall, my man," Weiss said. "You're the one who's always on top of everything. How can you be so clueless about our temporary boss?"

"Well, for one thing I've barely known him for seven hours," Marshall protested. "And for another, I've been kind of busy what with the building exploding and getting CTU's computers back on line and helping get the feed up in Visalia---"

"Whoa, whoa, Marshall" Weiss held up his hand. "I didn't mean to say you weren't up on your job! I know you've had your hands full; we all have. It's just you're the guy who manages to stay on top of everything. You always seem to know what's going on. And since we've got to rely on Mason's calls, I just figured it would make sense if we knew what the guy's doing."

Marshall was torn for a few seconds but decided to relent a little. "I'm pretty sure the guy Mason's talking with ishis son," he said slowly.

Weiss was surprised. "I didn't know he was married."

"He's not anymore. My guess is they haven't talked in a while. I think he wanted to get the kid out of LA, he couldn't reach him by phone, and this was the only way to do it." Marshall shook his head. "Must be pretty lousy to get that far away from your own kid."

As bad as a situation was, it was none of Weiss' business. He'd just needed to know if they had a problem with Mason. Now that he could see they didn't, it was time to get back to work. "Have Sydney and Jack started interrogating Faheen?" he asked.

"I'll check the feed."

"All the blame for the bombing of CTU is landing on Raeburn. You all right with your people?"

"Nothing I can't handle. What's the situation with Stanton?"

"I told David about the meetings in the Senate. He didn't consider it relevant."

"That doesn't matter. As long as he suspects only Stanton, we can keep him occupied; have him looking in the wrong direction. The important thing is that he believes you're credible."

"I'll try, but you know my situation. It's going to be an uphill climb with David. As it is, he's barely giving me the time of day."

"I know the feeling, Mrs. Palmer. But don't worry, you play by our rules, you're going to get everything you want."

"I know my role and I intend to live up to my part of the bargain. You just better live up to yours, Arvin."

"I will, Mrs. Palmer" Sloane said quietly. "I will."

**2:59:57/2:59:58/2:59:59/3:00:00**


	8. 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM

**Chapter 8**

**The Following Takes Place between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM**

Vaughn didn't know whether moving Nayer and Bob Warner back to CTU was the right call. Granted,when he did interrogations, he believed that it was better to question hostiles in an oppressive atmosphere to gain the advantage. However, he also thought while doing the same thing to civilians gave them some leverage, it was better to carry them out in a more convivial environment.

He also wasn't certain whether either of the two men were guilty of anything. His impression of Bob Warner was that of the CEO who wants to sweep indiscretions under the rug. He thought that Warner was covering up something, but he didn't think it was treasonous. He was less certain about Nayer. He might fit the profile of a sympathizer, but Vaughn didn't think Reza had the stomach for it.

Still, he guessed that they had gotten about as much out of the two men by playing (relatively) softball. He wasn't sure how far Mason was going to want to press them, but at least they had more options here.

So they led Warner and Nayer back into CTU. Marie Warner had insisted on coming along as well, though Vaughn wasn't sure who she was here to support. She probably spoke for all of them when she examined the structure, which still looked like it was falling apart, by asking "Is this place safe?"

"Just stay away from the cordoned areas and you'll be fine." Tony said brusquely.

"This is the building that was bombed earlier." The reality of the situation seemed to be sinking in with Bob Warner.

Tony didn't seem to be paying them much mind. He saw who was approaching and his reaction was sour. "Sloane? I thought you were in the hospital."

Vaughn didn't show it, but he was as surprised to see Sloane here as Tony was. While the injuries that Sloane had suffered in the bombing were mostly superficial, he had thought that the damage to his eye would keep him in the hospital at least the rest of the day. He supposed he should have known better. Trying to keep Sloane down was like trying to kill a cockroach.

"Why don't we drop the civilities and get on with our jobs?" Sloane said calmly.

"Where's Mason?" Tony was going to be a hard-ass on this.

"George is monitoring the situation is Visalia." Sloane said in that infinitely aggravating calm he seemed able to summon. "I called Agent Vaughn earlier to make sure he was abreast of what was happening there."

"Do we have Faheen?" Vaughn asked, cutting to the chase.

Sloane nodded. "He's in custody. Agent Bauer has begun interrogating him. Given what we know about Faheen, breaking him will not be easy. That's one of the reasons we really need to make some kind of progress with either of these men. Have you made any progress?"

Tony clearly didn't like the idea of reporting to Sloane for anything, but he was willing to face reality. "Like I told George on the phone, the two men are telling contradictory stories."

"But you do believe one of the men has a connection to Sayed Ali." Sloane pressed.

"We think so." Vaughn acknowledged.

Michelle chose that moment to come down the stairs. Tony instantly chose to start talking to her. "Are the rooms prepped?"

"They're a little messy but they'll be all right for interrogation."

"How are we doing here?" Tony asked.

"I just got off the phone with the hospital." Michelle looked grim. "The final count is thirty dead, seventeen wounded, Davidoff and Kirkendall are still critical."

"What about Paula?"

Michelle shook her head. "She died on the table."

Both Tony and Vaughn winced. Given the severity of her injuries, the chances of Paula's survival had been low, but it still hurt just the same. "Tony, I'm sorry." Vaughn said.

"Look, can we not talk about this now." Tony said. "We have a job to do, and unfortunately we can't spend time grieving." He turned back towards Vaughn. "Bring them in."

At that moment Bob Warner lowered his voice. "I need to talk with you in private" he told Vaughn.

Vaughn was surprised but nodded in acknowledgment.

Michelle and Tony started to walk the two men towards the rooms at the end of the hall. Sloane walked a few steps behind, talking to Vaughn. "It's beginning to look like Ali is at the center of today's events. Do you think that either of these two men knows about him?"

"I can't tell." Vaughn said honestly. "Nayer almost fits the profile, but I don't think he has the spine; Warner has the link to Ali, but I'm having a hard time seeing him and Ali going to the same restaurant, much less doing business together."

"Well, we can push them harder here." Sloane said.

"It might not come to that."

Sloane stopped walking. "What do you mean?"

"Warner said he was willing to talk to me."

"Any particular reason he would choose you?"

Vaughn shrugged. "I didn't go after him as hard as Tony did; maybe he thinks I'm the easier touch. Anyway, given the fact we are on a clock, I don't think that we should question the man's openness."

By now Nayer and Warner had been led into separate rooms. Sloane waited until they were inside to talk to him. "Let's give them a few minutes alone. Those stone walls might make their tongues a little looser."

Sloane was walking a little too close to Vaughn for comfort. "I'll do it, but I just want to make it clear: I completely agree with Mason's ranking of you in the hierarchy. I'll listen to you because you're my boss. Not because I agree with your methods." Vaughn pushed Sloane back a bit. "And don't stand that close to me."

**3:08:29/3:08:30/3:08:31**

"Tell me who you're working with in LA!" Nina Myers said in Arabic.

"I'm not going to give you any information." Faheen said.

Sydney hadn't been sure that having Nina interrogate Faheen was the best technique. But given what had nearly happened ten minutes earlier, Sydney had decided to take a step back and let Jack have a little more elbow room.

Unfortunately, it wasn't paying off.

"You are too late. The mission is complete." Faheen said.

"This isn't working." Jack pushed the curtains of the back room open. "We'll call Division, have them set up a white room, get the information out of him in Los Angeles." He grabbed Nina and began pushing her out the door.

"Wrong move, Jack!" Nina shouted. "If you put him into the system, he'll shut down." Jack didn't bother to respond. "Sydney, I need more time with him!"

"You've had your time." Sydney said. She was more interested in what Jack's face was doing with Nina.

"See that Faheen gets back to the airport." Jack said.

"Whoa, whoa." Sydney said. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We only need Faheen."

Nina knew what was happening. "I have a document signed by the President!" she yelled frantically "He can't touch me!"

"Don't worry; we're going to the airport together." When Jack bristled, Sydney growled "Did the last twenty minutes not happen, Jack? You don't get to play executioner. Not today!"

For another long moment Sydney thought Jack was going to draw again. Then he slammed his hand on the wall, and reluctantly began heading towards the car.

Sydney walked by the cuffed Nina. Before she could react, she slammed Nina into the wall. "In case you had any doubts," she hissed into her ear "I'm not on your side. I value traitors even less than Jack does."

With that she dragged Nina to the car.

**3:13:16/3:13:17/3:13:18/3:13:19**

For the last hour Dixon had been drowning in work. With Chapelle gnawing at him to keep on top of terrorist chatter in LA, Sydney updating him every ten minutes about what was happening in Visalia, and his independent efforts to keep on top of what was happening at Northwest Regional to see if Sloane's government conspiracy theory had merit, he literally was being pulled in every direction. But he thought getting another agent to work on this could make the wrong people suspicions. (Given everything he had gone through in the last year alone he thought that a little paranoia was healthy.)

In the two years he had worked as director of operations, he hadn't made a lot of friends with the rank and file. However, there was one tech at District whose work he had been impressed by. He wasn't at Marshall's level when it came to getting information but in his own right he was a pretty damn good.

"The press is a lot heavier in Portland,"the tech said in New York accent so think it could have substituted for Kevlar _"_Everyone's trying to figure out why the President cut his vacation short today. Half the people at Regional are trying to keep the press quiet without saying too much."

Dixon shook his head at this. "What does that have to do with anything, Edgar?"

"Because the media can often be our best source for information for these kinds of things." Edgar Stiles said into the phone, annoyed. "They think that there's some kind of crisis but no one knows what's going on. Right now, half the press is trying to find out what happened to Ron Leland."

"The reporter for FOX News? Why?"

"No one's seen him for more than five hours. Some of the older journalists are starting to joke that the President 'disappeared him'."

"This is the United States, not Central America." Dixon said coolly. "We don't do this kind of thing to the press."

"The last time anybody remembers seeing him was when he had a meeting with the President." Edgar said. "You'd have to be blind not to see a red flag."

This raised disturbing issues, but this was not his problem. "What about inside the intelligence? Have there been any suspicious changes?"

Edgar paused. "About an hour and a half ago, the President authorized a provisional security clearance to an outside visitor."

"Who?"

"Sherry Palmer."

This _was _a surprise. Like most Americans Dixon had only the vaguest understanding of why David Palmer had divorced his wife prior to the convention (he suspected only the immediate family knew the real reason). But he did know that the President had gone to great lengths to distance himself from his wife. To let her back into his circle today of all days… "You have any scuttlebutt as to how Sherry Palmer got into Northwest Regional at all?" he asked Edgar.

"Sherry Palmer had a fair amount of pull with Secret Service." Edgar said. "Seven of the agents at Regional were assigned to protect Palmer during the campaign. Maybe one of them was friendly to her."

"Friendly enough to go against the wishes of the President?"

"Hey, inter-agency politics isn't part of my job description." Edgar paused. "I'm sorry, but I don't presume to know how the President thinks."

Dixon hesitated. He knew very little about Sherry Palmer, but from what he heard, she had been one of the most ambitious people in Washington. He didn't think her appearance on this day was a coincidence. Whether she was involved in any conspiracy was harder to believe, but he had followed hunches with less backing then this. "You still have that back door into the Regional Database?" he asked Edgar.

Even though he was across town Edgar lowered his voice. "Yeah."

"Try and keep a monitor on Sherry Palmer's transactions in that database. See if she talks with anyone suspicious." Dixon lowered his voice. "And you report only to me on this."

"Yes, Mr. Dixon."

**3:19:35/3:19:36/3:19:37**

The plane was ready for take off the minute they returned to the airbase. Other than that things were not going very well for Jack and Sydney. The tension between Jack and Nina was even more labored than it had been on the way over, and the interrogation of Faheen, was going no better than it had at Faheen's hideout.

"The only way out for you is to help us." Syd translated for Nina.

Faheen didn't respond. No surprise: he hadn't said a word since they'd reached the plane.

Nina spoke again. "Mamoud. It does no good to us if you are dead." Sydney translated.

Nothing from Faheen.

"Think about it, Mamoud. You know what awaits you in Los Angeles."

This finally elicited a response. "I'm not afraid to die." Faheen said.

There was a long silence in the back seat. Faheen was now looking at Nina with the same eyes Sydney had seen Jack use just a couple of hours earlier.

Nina, perhaps naturally, tried to ignore it. "How big is the bomb?" she asked.

Faheen said nothing.

"When is it going to go off?"

Faheen looked at Nina, barked an obscenity and then spoke slowly. "You betrayed me. You betrayed us all. Traitor." They could hear the contempt in Faheen's voice all the way back in LA.

Jack had heard enough. "Bring her back here." he told the other CTU agent.

Nina was taken to the back of the plane. "Nina, if you want to get through this, you have to be straight with me." He almost sounded reasonable. "When was this planned?"

"Six months before I was arrested." Nina answered.

"And Faheen is the one who approached you?"

"Yes."

"Is there anyway around this?" Sydney asked.

"Not that I can see."

"He's really willing to die for this." Jack said.

"Of course he is." Sydney said. "We knew that when we grabbed him."

Jack began to rub his hands through his hair.

"Jack, there's gotta be a way around this." Sydney said, walking over to him.

"Our only shot is to take him back to Division, and hope they can break him," Jack said.

"Right." What Sydney didn't say--- what she didn't need to say---- was that the odds of Faheen breaking in the time they needed were even slimmer than here.

Sydney and Jack were so wrapped up in the problem that they didn't notice Nina take a ballpoint pen from one of the seats and put it in her pocket.

**3:23:37/3:23:38/3:23:39**

Vaughn decided they had kept Bob Warner waiting long enough. He knew that both Mason and Sloane wanted to keep them waiting another ten minutes, but he didn't think that they had the time to screw around any longer.

He walked into the interrogation room. The second the door opened, Bob Warner got up from his seat. "Why have I been kept waiting?" he demanded angrily.

"Mr. Warner, I don't know what you know about our procedures but you're intelligent enough that we move at our convenience, not yours." Vaughn walked to the table. "Sit down."

"I have some information---"

"Sit. Down." Vaughn repeated. Warner got the message and sat back down. "What did you want to tell me?"

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but given the circumstances---"Warner took out his wallet and took out a business card. "---I'm a consultant for the CIA. That is my contact number."

_Okay, I wasn't expecting this_, Vaughn thought. "This is the kind of information we like to know about it _before_ we bring people in for interrogation," he said.

"Oh, come on Agent Vaughn, you know the drill." Warner now sounded even angrier than before. "I can't talk to anyone without clearance."

That sounded enough like an agency protocol to be real. Then again, a lot of liars could sound like they were on the level. "Fine then," Vaughn said. "What is your I3 protocol?"

Warner sighed. "I was approached about five years ago because of my international contacts." He rubbed his eyes. "They asked if I wanted to help my country and I said okay. My company is used as a conduit to pass information along, and don't ask what, I don't know." Vaughn's glance must have revealed his irritation. "Most of it is encrypted and they make sure not to give me the key. Now, listen Mr. Vaughn" Warner was starting to sound self-righteous again "I'm not an enemy of this country, I am a patriot, but I don't know a Sayed Ali, nor do I know why there are any records of me doing business with him."

Vaughn thought Bob Warner was telling the truth, but his story was far too vague to be completely believable and not nearly enough to sell Mason or Sloane on it. "If that's the case, Mr. Warner," Vaughn said "you have nothing to worry about. But there is a connection between your company and Sayed Ali, and we're going to find it. So until we do, you're going to have to wait it out."

He walked to the door but stopped before he left. "Just for background, who approached you?"

Warner looked at Vaughn. "His name was Arthur Devlin."

Vaughn's face gave nothing away as his former superior's****name was mentioned. Internally, however, he thought _Great. That's all we need. Another complication._

The dialogue between Faheen and Nina seemed to be going nowhere. Jack was going to make a second trip back there when Nina abruptly changed her tone.

"What's she saying now?" Jack asked Sydney.

"Nina told him that right now that U.S. forces have been sent to his home village. They're rounding up his family, his cousins." Sydney listened to Faheen. Faheen just called her a liar." She paused. "Nina told him that she had the power to save them."

Suddenly both Faheen and Nina lowered their voices to an almost inaudible level. Sydney, who was sitting across from them, could not understand one word in five.

Jack couldn't hear them at all. "What are they saying?" he asked the translators back at CTU.

"I don't know." Nadia said over the line. "The audio's too low."

Suddenly Sydney froze. In the midst of a blur of Arabic, she had heard one word from Nina very clearly. And that word was 'Covenant.'

"What the hell did you tell him?" she said, rising to her feet.

"Everything," Nina said.

Sydney was fast, but Nina was too close. In one swift motion, she had taken a pen and stabbed Faheen in the neck. To make sure it was effective, she even slide her hand down the pen and used her palm to drive the rest of it so deep into his neck, the tip started coming out the back. She grabbed it again and yanked it back out.By the time Sydney was there, blood was spurting out from the wound. Sydney was pretty sure she had hit an artery. By the time she and the other agents had gotten him on the ground, Faheen was dead.

"What have you done?" Jack demanded angrily.

"I know where the bomb is!" Nina shouted. "Take the plane to San Diego; I want a civilian transport to Sao Paulo. I'll tell you where the bomb is on the ground!"

"George, did you get that?" Jack yelled over the earpiece.

"Yeah, I heard it," Mason said tiredly, "and I'm getting damn tired of being jerked around."

"We can take her back to CTU; try and press her."

"We don't have time. Take her to San Diego."

Sydney had not yet moved from the ground. She hadn't gotten past the last coherent word she'd heard. "What did you say about the Covenant?" she demanded of Nina.

"Sydney," Jack warned.

Sydney didn't seem to have heard. "What was that crap about the Covenant?" she demanded, leaping back towards Nina. "Are they involved? How do you know them?" Nina remained stoic. "Tell me, goddamnit!"

"Agent Bristow, stand down!" Jack ordered.

Very reluctantly, Sydney regained control of herself. Damnit, if this kept up, she was going to turn into Jack. She backed away and began to wipe Faheen's blood of her shirt.

"This is how we're going to do this," Jack said, as he walked over to Nina. "We land; you tell us where the bomb is. You stay right where you are until we get results. Understand?"

"Got it," Nina spoke as coolly as she had back in Los Angeles.

Jack turned to Doherty. "Tell the pilot to take us to San Diego." He slammed his hand against the wall. "Fuck!"

**3:34:19/3:34:20/3:34:21/3:34:22**

Sydney had been fairly sure that Nina Myers had not been completely straight with them about her past connections; the fact that Nina had just referred to the Covenant proved it. If they had more time to squeeze the woman, they might have been able to shake something loose, but they didn't, and now she'd arranged so that in an hour's time, Nina might vanish off the face of the earth, taking all of her secrets with her.

This was unacceptable. Mason might find it acceptable, in his narrow-minded way of dealing with the bomb, and Sloane would probably find it acceptable (seeing as he preferred keeping everything close to the vest), but Sydney couldn't live with it. Yes, today was all about stopping the nuke, but if the Covenant was somehow involved in this, then it was going to be her problem as of tomorrow.

So she decided to call the only person who was currently in a position to help her.

"Division, this is Dixon," said the voice on the other end of the cell.

"Dixon, its Sydney,"

"Syd, I've been keeping abreast of things from here. Have you gotten anything out of Faheen?"

"Faheen's dead, Sydney said bluntly. "Myers killed him, and all I could do was watch."

There was a long pause on the other end. "I take it Faheen told Nina something that the rest of you didn't hear," Dixon said slowly.

"That's right," Sydney said. "Per Myers instructions, we're now headed to San Diego, where Myers will tell us where to find the bomb, and then disappear into the night."

"Syd, I know that making deals with traitors is near the bottom of things that you like, but our hands are tied."

"I didn't call to bitch about the unfairness of the world," Sydney said. "I'm calling because I think that one of the last things Nina said to Faheen before helping him leave this world had something to do with the Covenant."

Now there was a longer pause. "How sure are you of this?" Dixon asked.

"Not sure at all," Sydney admitted. "The last few things that Nina and Faheen said to each other were so inaudible that I couldn't translate them. Michelle's trying to go over the audio back at CTU, but, according to her, its 99 percent noise. But I'm certain that one of the last things that Nina said before she killed Faheen was 'Covenant'. I'm very familiar with every variation of that particular word."

"Sydney, we have looking for any connections to the Covenant all day."

"Have you found anything?"

"A possible money-trail from the Covenant to Faheen," Dixon admitted. "However, all that proves is that he worked for the Covenant before. There's no evidence to suggest that this is anything other than a Second Wave operation."

"Nina as much admitted to me that when she sold the plans to Wald, Faheen was working in connection with a group centered in Eastern Europe," Sydney pressed. "That sounds like the Covenant."

"Is there anyone who could corroborate this?"

"Faheen," Sydney said tiredly. "Which may have been the reason Nina killed him."

Dixon sighed. "Sydney, right now all of the resources at every intelligence agency is being used to try and locate this bomb. Unless we have a causative link between the Covenant and Second Wave, I can't justify expending resources on it."

"That's exactly why we need people working on it today." Sydney insisted. "Nina Myers' true identity, the money trail leading to the Covenant, they're all part of the same thing. The more that I learn about these plots, the more convinced I am that the Covenant has something to do with today's attack. Which means the second this bomb is stopped; the people in DC are going to dump it in our lap. And personally I'm tired of playing defense against those people. If there is a way that we can hit them, and hit them hard, I want to do it."

Dixon considered this for a long moment. "If I were to go along with this," he started, "what do you think we should do?"

Sydney looked across the aisle at Jack. He was talking with one of the other agents on the flight. This wasn't a great place for privacy, but Sydney was betting Jack didn't care much about their interoffice protocols.

She lowered her voice. "Marshall would be a big help, but right now CTU needs him more than we do." She thought for a second. "Is there a tech you trust?

"I know someone," Dixon said.

"Last I checked, we had identified at least half a dozen Covenant cells in America... Get your tech to try and locate them and see if any can be linked to Faheen or anyone else connected with Second Wave."

"You know," Dixon said warily, "there's an easier way to do this. We know someone working for this government who is required to turn over any relevant details to us."

Sydney didn't even have to think twice about this. "I don't want Sloane anywhere near what we're doing," she said icily. "I don't care how good a boy he's promised to be; he knows something about what's happening today. And he is the last person we tell about any of this."

Dixon didn't hesitate. "I couldn't agree more."

Nadia was beginning to feel her energy flag. The situation with Sydney, Jack Bauer and Nina Myers had gone downhill in a hurry, Reza Nayer wasn't budging from his position that he knew nothing about Sayed Ali, and all of their other leads seemed to be going the same place--- nowhere. She was beginning to feel tired--- not physically, emotionally.

Weiss walked by. "Nadia, you okay?" he asked.

A hundred answers sprung to mind. She chose the shortest one. "No." Nadia felt her head roll down to her chest. "And that was an unusually foolish question to ask."

"I know. Given everything that's happened since we got here-----"

"It's not that." Nadia knew this was a stupid thing to say. "I mean, it's not just that. I mean we've been through so much today, and I get the feeling it's not going to matter. We're not going to stop this bomb from going off."

"Yes, we are." Weiss insisted.

"No, we're not."

"Not to sound like a third-grader, but yes we are."

Nadia lifted her head. "Why do you say this? The best lead we have in it's on its way to San Diego, and nobody in this office trusts her. Our only domestic link is not giving us anything on the man behind the bomb, except for two contradictory stories. And despite the fact that there is a threat of nuclear annihilation, there is next to no domestic chatter from about where the bomb is. We have no known links to any known organization. And the central unit tasked with finding the bomb is being held together with duct tape. "She looked Weiss dead in the eye. "On what evidence do you believe we'll succeed?"

Weiss paused for a moment. "Call me a cock-eyed optimist" he said finally.

Despite herself, Nadia laughed. "You're turning to musical theater to cheer me up."

"It worked, didn't it?" The smile on Weiss' face disappeared. "I know how remote the odds seem right now, but if we start thinking about what might happen, we'll be paralyzed. Optimism may not help us succeed, but pessimism will make us fail. And none of us--- not you, not me, not them--- can afford to think this way."

Nadia was smiling again. "You sound like one of those motivational speakers on late-nigh TV."

"Where do you think I got these new threads? Those guys are great salesmen." Weiss said. "And now that you've heard this word from our sponsor, how about you get back over the Faheen tapes?"

"I've gone over them twice," Nadia said.

"Maybe the third time will be the charm." Weiss sat down. "Come on. I'll help." He sat down next to her.

"How long until we reach San Diego?" she asked Doherty.

"Less than fifteen minutes," the FBI man said.

Sydney sat down. "What's the Covenant and what do they have to do with anything?" Jack demanded.

_So much for keeping secrets. _"There's no short answer to that question.

Jack's lips quirked in an aborted smile. "Indulge me. We have time."

She sighed."They're a terrorist organization with cells all through Europe and most of North America. And those are just the areas we know about."

"What's their connection to today's attack?"

"Right now, I can't find one," Sydney admitted, "but this whole operation has their fingerprints all over it."

Jack took less than five seconds to process this. "And you think Nina knows something about it," Jack said.

Sydney looked at her." She's making it goddamn hard to believe otherwise."

Jack looked at Nina again. It was a brief look, but it revealed a lot to Sydney. For one thing, this wasn't a matter of just killing Jack's wife, it was much worse…and what could be worse than having someone you work with kill your wife?

Jack spoke again. He started speaking even before he turned his attention away from Nina. "Have you ever been betrayed by someone who you not only trusted," he stared back at Sydney, "but cared about?"

Sydney almost smiled at the irony of the question. Should she count her lover who turned out to be a paid assassin? Or the assassin who had been posing as her best friend for months after killing her? "You could say that. I wouldn't recommend the feeling."

Granted, that put it mildly. But what was she going to say? That she'd rather relive all of her worse tortures on an infinite loop than experience another betrayal on that level?

Syd thought back to the way that Jack had looked at Nina when she was changing clothes. He started at her with a laser intensity that was unmatched in her experience. He hadn't leered, hadn't looked at any part of Nina's body aside from her hands and face. She thought Jack had simply dehumanized her to the point where the intensity of his hatred had made her as sexually appealing as a gila Monster.

However, with Jack's one question, she reevaluated it. What if Jack had not observed Nina's nudity… because it was nothing new?

Oh crap.

Sydney couldn't tell how the realization had played across her face, but Jack nodded slightly a moment after she realized it.

"It was only for a few weeks," he said softly. "Teri and I…we were already back together."

"It doesn't help."

He smiled sadly. "No, it doesn't."

Sydney tried to imagine what it would feel like if she merged the betrayal of "the Iceman"—her lover who literally tried to kill her—along with that of Arvin Sloane.

It took another moment, but she finally came to a conclusion…Nina Myers wasn't going to make it to Brazil She probably wasn't even going to get off this plane.And as much as she had come to detest Myers, Sydney had a responsibility to the government and to the city of Los Angeles.

Sydney turned to Jack, unsure of what to say it. Nina Myers was going to die. One way or another, Myers had a little clock ticking down the seconds she had left, and Bauer would be keeping his eye on the clock.

"Let her go," she heard herself say, not entirely conscious of it when the words first came out. But once they did, she completed the thought. "Let her go today, and I promise, I will help you find her. One way or another, she won't escape."

He scoffed. "She's already been pardoned."

Her voice flattened. "Who said anything about finding and arresting her?"

He smiled at her, and was about to say something, when they felt the entire plane shake, andheard the explosion. A moment later, the sirens began and the plane began to shake. Sydney didn't know whether it had been internal or someone had shot at them. All she knew was one thing.

Their plane was going to crash.

**3:45:41/3:45:42/3:45:43/3:45:44**

Mason practically ran over to Marshall. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"Um, I don't have any idea!" Marshall said. "Air traffic has been clear all the way to San Diego! All I know is that one of the engines is on fire and nearly sputtering out."

"Do we have the plane's last known coordinates?" Sloane said.

"Yeah, but the planes dropping below traditional radar as of a minute ago!" Michelle said. "The crash zone could be as wide as twenty miles!"

"Keep contact with the flight as long as you can!" Mason knew that was a stupid thing to say but also knew it had to be said.

Their only lead to the bomb was at 15,000 feet and falling.

The pilots were doing everything they could, but their best efforts would never overcome gravity. The passengers on the plane knew the odds and what they had to do.

"How long 'til we go down?" Sydney yelled over the wailing siren.

"Any minute now." Jack yelled back. "The pilots think that they've found a safe place to crash! I gotta get these coordinates to George!"

Jack bobbed and weaved with the airplane as he made his way to the computer. He managed to get the headphones on. "George, are you there?!"

"We're here!" Mason yelled back. "What the hell's happening?"

"We're going down! The pilots don't know what happened. It felt like some kind of explosion! We're losing all kinds of power! They think that they can make a crash landing on the side of the soft riverbed in Sector J! Coordinates are 34. 39, 4 north, 109 9 16 west! Did you get that?"

"We got it, Jack!"

Jack looked up at Nina, the only person in the plane who hadn't moved during the explosion. "Nina, there's a chance we're not going to make it through this." he yelled at her. "We need to know the location of the bomb now!"

Nina remained silent. _God, was she going to use imminent death to her advantage? _Sydney thought. "Nina, you've gotten everything you asked for!" Sydney yelled "For the love of God, tell us what we need to know!

"Jack, can she hear me?" Mason yelled into the headphone.

"Hold on, I'll put you on speaker!" Jack clicked it on.

"Nina, the deal that you've asked for is in play! You have your goddamn pardon!" _God, we're negotiating now? _George thought as he yelled.

"Even if I survive the plane crash, Jack's gonna kill me anyway!" Nina yelled.

"That's what Sydney and Doherty are there for!" Mason shouted.

"They don't give a damn about me! They'd let Jack kill me!"

_I guess that little act in the hallway was a little too convincing, _Syd thought.

"Nina, all I want is the location of the bomb!!" Jack yelled. "I won't harm you in any way. I give you my word!"

"I don't believe you."

Suddenly Sydney had enough. The idea of dying didn't terrify her; God knew she had managed enough narrow escapes over the past six years that she had come to accept the possibility that, one day, her luck would run out. But the idea of dying and failing in their mission because of this bitch--- it was too much. She took out her gun and put it to Nina's head. "Where is the bomb?" she demanded.

"Sydney, holster your weapon!" Jack said.

Sydney had time to reflect on the irony of Jack protecting Nina now. "Don't let this be for nothing. Tell us where the bomb is!" she yelled. "If you think you're fucking scared of Jack, just pray you die before in the crash, because you'll regret it otherwise."

"Sydney, sit down!"

Sydney never knew if she would have fired, because the pilot's voice came over the loudspeaker. "This is Captain Richards. I don't think we're going to make it to the riverbed. Everyone assume crash positions and get ready for impact!"

"George, we're going down now, we're not going to make it to the riverbed!" Jack yelled over the speaker at CTU. "The coordinates that I gave you are no good. They are going to----"

Then there was a blast of noise and the line went dead.

For a few seconds, everyone who had gathered round during the plane's last communications was stunned by what had happened.

Mason recovered first. "Get the crash coordinates from ATC and get search-and-rescue team out there." he told Michelle.

Vaughn had left the interrogation of Nayer when he heard what was happening to Sydney's plane. Now he rushed over to Marshall. "Marshall, have you got the last known position of Sydney's airplane?" he asked.

"Well, I've been in touch with Strategic Air Command ever since they took off," Marshall said. "Give me a minute and I should have them."

Mason walked over to Vaughn. "We got the coordinates from Jack," he said.

"And the last thing he told us was they weren't going to be any good," Vaughn shot back. "Search-and-rescue might be headed to the wrong place."

"Got it!" Marshall said. "Right over here."

"How far out are they from here?" Nadia asked.

Marshall looked at the map. "Um, air support could get there in half an hour"

"Wait a minute," Sloane said. "San Diego can get there a lot faster than anyone here can."

"I wouldn't care if they could beam in from the next planet over," Nadia snapped. "My sister is on the plane."

"We're well aware of that." Mason said. "But I can't have this unit going every which way; no matter how related you are to the people on board."

"Damn it, Mason!" Vaughn said "You know as well as that plane didn't just crash. We need as many people as we can get out there looking for the survivors!"

Mason considered this. "One team from CTU," he said finally. "And only one of you," he said, looking at Vaughn and Nadia, "goes. We can't spare any more manpower. The chopper leaves in five minutes."

**3:53:48/3:53:49/3:53:50**

As Jack Bauer climbed out of the rubble of the plane, he fell to the ground. A piece of the fuselage was stuck in his leg, and getting it out was an agonizing ten seconds.

He started looking around for survivors. "Sydney!" he yelled. "Doherty!"

Ten feet away from the tail, he found the remnants of a seat. "Doherty!" he shouted.

Doherty said nothing but Jack still got a faint pulse. As he touched his head, Doherty opened his eyes and said one word: "Myers."

"I haven't found her," Jack said as he tried to get Doherty out. "I don't even know if she made it."

"Find… her.." Doherty sunk to the ground

"Doherty, you gotta hang in there," Jack checked again for a pulse. "Search and rescue will be here any moment, but you have to stay with me." Doherty was in bad shape, but he had more pressing concerns. Reluctantly, Jack got up.

"Sydney!" he shouted out through the debris.

"I need some help!" Sydney called out faintly. As Jack ran over to her, he saw that she was woozily standing near another body. "Nina's over here!"

When he got there, he saw that Nina was still chained to the seat. Reluctantly, he took out the keys and unhooked Nina from the seat.

Sydney checked. "She's not breathing." Without trying to think of what she was doing, she bent over and began CPR. "No, you don't get to die yet," she muttered under her breath.

On the third time breathing for her, Nina began choking and spitting.

_She's alive. Hurray. _Sydney thought sourly to herself. She gagged to get the taste of Nina out of her mouth.

"Mr. Mason, I need you to see something."

George walked over to Marshall, who was looking at one of the computer screens. "What do you have?" he asked.

"These are satellite pictures that were taken around the time that the pilot reported the explosion." Marshall put a red cursor on one area of the screen.

At first it was empty--- and then a small white projectile appeared on the screen.

George knew what this meant. "They were shot down." he said slowly.

"Yeah. With some kind of ground-to-air missile," Marshall said grimly

Mason walked over to the center of operations. "Get together a list of anybody who might have had access to their flight plan," he ordered. " And notify the rescue unit. Whoever shot down that plane doesn't want us to find this nuke, and they're probably on the ground looking to finish the job."

**3:59:57/3:59:58/3:59:59/4:00:00**


	9. 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM

**Chapter 9**

**The following takes place between 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M.**

Dixon had no idea how things had managed to spin out of control so rapidly. In the space of fifteen minutes, he'd had to deal with the possibility of the Covenant's involvement with the nuclear bomb, Ron Leland's reporting on all major networks that there was a major terrorist threat against the country, and Sydney and Jack's plane crashing en route to San Diego. Except he knew it wasn't a plane crash--- whoever it was behind today threats had blown Jack and Sydney's plane out of the sky.

None of this was Dixon's fault, but as liaison between CTU and Division, Chapelle was making certain that all of the shit that was falling landed on him.

"How the hell did this happen?" Chapelle demanded angrily.

"You don't have to use your 'I'm in charge' tone, Ryan," Dixon said heatedly. "And I might add that the middle of a nuclear threat is a really shitty time to start laying blame for events that obviously were beyond anyone's control!"

This seemed to register with Chapelle. "Do we have the coordinates of where Jack and Nina's plane went down?" he asked in a quieter tone.

"Marshall's in the middle of re-tasking two of our satellites at the last known coordinates of the plane," Dixon said, inwardly miffed that Ryan was ignoring the passenger on that flight who mattered the most to him. "He says he should they should be in position in three minutes."

"What about search-and-rescue?" Chapelle asked.

"The San Diego units are closest. They're ready to move the second that Marshall has the coordinates," Dixon paused. "We've also dispatched a unit from LA."

"What? Under whose authority?"

Dixon couldn't understand what was pissing Ryan off now. "I believe this was Mason's call."

"Mason knows that CTU's has a major shortage of manpower as it is," Chapelle said testily. "Besides, even with clear airspace, it'll take an extra ten minutes just to get to the crash site. San Diego can get there far faster. Order that unit grounded."

Suddenly, Dixon had just about reached his limit with Chapelle. "I don't think I will, Ryan," he said coolly.

Chapelle blinked twice at this. "Why the hell not, _Marcus?_"

"Our only lead on the nuke is on that plane. Someone knows that and decided to shoot the plane down."

"Thank you, Marcus; being a college graduate, I could have never reached that line of reasoning on my own."

"Well, maybe you'd have _reasoned _out that whoever shot that plane down is probably going to make damn sure that they were no survivors. And God knows how much firepower they have at their disposal to do it. They're going to need all the backup they can handle, if they're still standing." Marcus took a deep breath. "But leaving that aside, Sydney and Jack are my friends, and I don't intend to leave my friends out to be killed. The leader of that search-and-rescue--- who, by the way, is Sydney's sister, not that you asked--- feels the same way I do. My guess is that she would have found a way to do it regardless; I figure she'd probably do better _with _help. So that's how it's going to play, the unit's in the field, and I'm not calling it back. Got it?"

For a moment, Dixon wondered if he'd pushed Chapelle too far. Then he put his hands in front of him. "I want tactical updates every five minutes," he said. "And if there are any screw-ups or the manpower shortage affects our search, I will ream your ass with Hammond. Understand?"

"Perfectly."

**4:05:49/4:05:50/4:05:51**

"Sure thing, Mr. Mason." Marshall said.

George walked away. He hadn't gotten far when Tony walked up to him. "George, Richards told me that you had Warner and Nayer put in room 7."

"That's right."

Tony was pissed. "Well, I had them separated for a reason."

Now Mason stopped walking. "Yeah, because I told you to. Separating them isn't working, so we'll put them in the same room, play them off each other and see if we get something."

"Why are you getting so involved in this?" Tony asked.

"Because there's an excellent chance that our only other lead is dead," Mason said bluntly. "Maybe our teams will find Jack and Sydney alive, maybe all they'll find are bodies. It's our job to prepare for the worst-case scenario, although I can't imagine any scenario that could be worse than this. Our only other lead to Ali is one of these two men. And it's time we started pressing them. Now let's get a move on."

He was about to turned away when Tony grabbed his arm. "I don't get you, George. First you get the fuck out of here to save your own ass, then you come back here and start acting like you actually give a damn about anyone but yourself ---"

"Let it go, Tony." George interrupted.

"No, I'm not going to back off. Not today." Tony looked George in the eye. "Now, what the hell's going on?"

_What the hell_,George thought. "Remember that warehouse in Panorama City?_**" **_he asked. "Weapons-grade plutonium?"

The expression on Tony's face collapsed. "You were exposed?" he asked.

George nodded. "They say I'll be lucky to make it through tomorrow," he said.

"Ah Christ, George, I don't know what to say." Tony looked like he'd been gut shot. "I'm sorry."

George choked out a laugh. "Me, too."

Tony put his hand on his head. "Who else knows?" he asked.

"Just Jack. And you." He looked into his subordinate's eyes. "Can we keep it that way?"

"Sure." Tony still seemed stunned. "Is there--- is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yeah," Mason said, gesturing towards Sloane,"make sure that Mr. Clean over there doesn't find out about this. Last thing I need is the king vulture standing over me waiting to take command."

"Couldn't agree with you more," Tony said.

Mason looked at the interrogation room. "We'll give the two of them a few more minutes to stew, then we'll see if they start bouncing off the wall."

**4:10:27/4:10:28/4:10:29/4:10:30**

Both Sydney and Jack managed to escape the plane crash with minor injuries. Doherty was in pretty lousy shape and Nina Myers was only marginally better off. Everyone else on the plane was dead.

Sydney knew that Mason would have dispatched rescue teams as soon as the plane had crashed. What she didn't know was how far off their coordinates were from the ones that Jack had sent out. Contacting CTU was now their top priority.

"Find anything?" Sydney asked Jack, who was searching the wreckage for supplies.

Jack was going through one of the emergency kits and had taken out the flare gun. "Not yet," he said as he tucked it in his waistband. Then he picked up Nina Myers, who he had cuffed again the minute she no longer looked like she was going to die. Sydney didn't know if Jack was in any condition to be standing guard over anyone, but Nina didn't look like she was going to be running any marathons soon.

Sydney was walking back over to Jack, when he saw the men in camouflage appearing over the wreckage. Sydney was going to yell over, but something seemed off about them. Besides, could search and rescue have gotten there that fast? And since when did search and rescue wear combat fatigues?

Suddenly, the one standing over Doherty took out a magnum and shot the injured agent in the head.

Jack grabbed Nina. "These soldiers, are they here for you?!" he said in a loud whisper.

He never got an answer, because suddenly a soldier appeared on his right flank with an MK-6 pointed at him. Jack shot him with the flare gun. The man burst into flames, firing his weapon into theair, alerting the other soldiers.

Sydney quickly pulled her Glock and fired four shots at the soldiers. As she ran over to Jack, Nina tried to get the MK the dead soldier had dropped.

"Don't even try it," Jack said grimly as he grabbed up the rifle. He fired several shots at the mass of soldiers to keep their heads down. These guys were organized and they knew how to position themselves.

"Cover me!" Jack yelled, as he grabbed all the ammunition he could find around the dead soldier.

Sydney dropped to one knee, scanning the area for a clear shot at the first sight of a gun barrel. One helmet peaked over a hilltop, and Sydney flinched towards them, firing three shots at it. The solider didn't bother getting up.

"You done yet?" she called back.

"Let's go." The roar of the rifle echoed as it unleashed a stream of bullets to strafe the soldiers' position. "Fall back."

Sydney scrambled back, pushing ahead of Jack as he provided a rearguard action against the bulk of the attackers.

They managed to make their way back to a creek bed that would provide them with cover. "Who the hell are these guys?" Sydney demanded of Nina.

"We can't worry about that now," Jack said. "I need you to provide me with recon, and handle the ammunition. How many clips do you have?"

"Just one," Sydney admitted. "I need to get to higher ground," she said. She looked at Nina. "Try anything cute,_** a**_nd we're all dead."

"Go!" Jack yelled.

"Marshall, have you repositioned the satellites?!" Nadia yelled over the noise of the chopper she was riding in.

"They're scanning the airspace of Jack and Sydney's last known coordinates," Marshall acknowledged. "Just one more…." There was another long pause. "Got it!" Marshall yelled. "Coordinates are Sector L, 30, 36 8 north, 105 10 57 west! Did you get that?"

"Copy!" Nadia yelled back. "How far out are we?"

"Based on your choppers speed and position, I estimate you'll reach the craft in approximately twelve minutes!"

Then Nadia heard something. It was hard to tell over the rotors of the chopper, but you'd have to be a pretty piss-poor agent not to recognize gunfire when you heard it.

Nadia turned to the pilot. "There any way you can get us there any faster?" she shouted.

"No!" said the pilot. "We're going as fast as possible!"

Nadia went back to her headset. "What's the ETA of the San Diego search and rescue?"

"Checking that," Marshall said. "Approximately seven minutes."

"Nadia, what the hell's going on?" Mason interrupted.

"I've got a feeling that Jack and Sydney may not have seven minutes," Nadia said grimly.

**4:19:22/4:19:23/4:19:24/4:19:25**

Jack had no idea how many men were after them. He had seen four soldiers, not counting the one he had killed with the flare gun, but that didn't mean that was all there were. Considering the stakes that they were all playing for, there might well be a platoon out to kill them.

Suddenly, there were another three soldiers in front of, and fired another three rounds of fire.

By now, Sydney was about twenty yards ahead of him. "Jack!" she shouted, "I can spot you from here!"

Jack was running as fast as his injured legs would carry him, hoping that the adrenalin would keep him moving. He managed to distract himself by keeping an eye on Nina. He had half expected Nina to try and make a run for it, despite the long chances. But Nina figured she was still safer with Jack than with the shooters.

By now, he had reached his position, and Sydney threw him a fresh clip. "Where are they?" he yelled.

"Ten o'clock, ninety yards, moving east!" Sydney shouted back.

Jack followed her instruction and fired on the approaching soldiers. He managed to get one of them--- by now he had figured out the soldiers were wearing Kevlar--- but there will still three to go. "I'm empty!" he shouted.

Sydney tossed him another. "Last clip," she yelled.

"Where are they?"

"Nine o'clock, seventy yards!"

Jack fired carefully, knowing that he might not get another chance. Unfortunately, the terrain favored the attackers and the camouflage blended perfectly with the underbrush. He managed to take out one more before he emptied his rifle.

Jack cast his rifle aside and went for his .45, hoping he had a full load. "Where are they?" he yelled.

"Six o'clock, high ground!" Sydney took out her own weapon and fired three shots. She managed to hit one of the remaining soldiers, but only in the shoulder.

"Damn," she muttered. She slipped down flat, into cover, and motioned Jack to do the same. What she had in mind was risky, but she had little choice. She listened carefully for the sounds of boots on gravel, hoping to have just that much warning before all hell broke loose.

The footsteps came closer, and Sydney had to time this just right, or they were all going to die. The way the three of them were pressed against the wall of the creek bed, the soldiers would have to practically be on top of them before being able to shoot.

And as she was told while training with SD-6, a gun was a long-range weapon.

Sydney pressed her knees to her chest, preparing for the lunge…

A final crunch of gravel came perilously close to the edge.

She slammed her feet straight down, kicking from the ground into the air. Her hands slapped down on the top of the earthen wall, and she swept her feet along the dirt, hoping to cut the legs out from under one of the three approaching gunmen.

She instead got all three.

One fell into the creek, falling prey to Jack shooting up. Sydney caught the other two with her own pistol. Before any of the others could attack, she rolled back into the creek, then grabbed the other two by their boots and dragged them down, rifles, ammo, and all.

"This good enough?"

And then, like out of a Western, the air cavalry showed up. "They're gonna do a sweep!" he shouted at Sydney and Nina. "Take cover!"

The gunship filled the air with bullets. Once the shooting was over, Jack pulled out his gun and slowly began to walk towards one of the soldiers.

The helicopter finished its circle and touched down less than twenty feet from Sydney. Two men in uniform came out and rushed over to her. "Agent Bristow!" the first man shouted. "Henry Gale, Steven Broderick, San Diego search and rescue."

"Thanks!" Sydney yelled out.

"You have any idea who those soldiers worked for?" the second man said.

"Not a clue!" Sydney said. "We're going to need a forensic team out here to try and figure out who these men were working for! In the meantime, I need you to secure the prisoner," she said, pointing to Nina.

"We'll get on it right away." Broderick said. "How many of you survived?"

"Besides me and Myers, only Agent Bauer."

Jack was only marginally aware of the conversation that was going on a few feet away from him. He was looking for some way of identifying the soldiers, when he found a cellular phone on one of the bodies.

He picked up the phone and dialed.

"This is Mason."

"George, its Jack. Sydney and Nina are still alive, the rest are dead. A group of soldiers shot the plane down, and then they tried to kill us. We don't know who they are, but whoever it was sent a small army after us. The only reason we're still alive is because of the rescue team."

There was suddenly a long pause. "What rescue team?" George said.

Jack went cold. "George, what's going on?"

"San Diego search and rescue is still two minutes out."

Jack dropped the phone and went for his gun. He was fast, but the people in the 'rescue unit' were faster.

In less than five seconds, Jack, Sydney and Nina all hit the ground unconscious. The tranquilizer darts had done there work well.

"Get them," 'Henry Gale' ordered the men in the helicopter.

"Jack? Jack!"

Back at CTU, Mason rushed over to Marshall. "Get me the San Diego unit!" he ordered "_Now!"_

Marshall's hands had never stopped moving.

"Search and rescue," came the voice over the phone.

"This is George Mason with CTU Los Angeles," Mason shouted. By now half of the unit was massing around Marshall's desk. "We have a hostile unit at the coordinates we gave you! How far out are you?"

"I can see the crash site from the window," the voice on the other end said. "There's definitely another unit on the ground."

As the second helicopter neared them, Gale gave an order to one of the men in the chopper. Another lackey took out a miniature rocket launcher and aimed it.

"Fire!" Gale yelled.

The rocket flew out and hit the chopper from nearly a quarter of a mile away. The real rescue unit exploded in a flash of fire.

The men on the ground, in the meantime, had loaded the three agents into the other helicopter. Gale and Broderick got on the chopper.

"Get us out of here before reinforcements arrive!" Gale ordered the pilot. "As fast as you can. We have to find out what these people know!"

**4:32:36/4:32:37/4:32:38/4:32:39**

Before they arrived on the crash site, it was clear that the chopper Nadia was in would have to land some distance away. There was too much fuselage, gasoline and corpses on the ground for anything smaller than bicycle to make a safe landing.

The second that Nadia got out of the helicopter, she got on the line with Marshall. "Marshall, how long ago did Jack Bauer call into Mason?" she demanded.

"According to the time clock, he checked in approximately six minutes ago," Marshall reported.

"All right, use the satellites that you tasked to find the crash site. Use real-time telemetry to find out where the chopper that intercepted Jack and Sydney came from and what direction it left in!"

"We're already doing that," Michelle said back at CTU. "Look, Nadia, I realize that you're worried about your sister----"

"Forget who I'm related to!" Nadia said a bit too loudly even for her ears. "Whoever intercepted Jack and Sydney didn't want us to find the nuke. Right now, our only chance of finding that weapon is to find them before whoever took them kills them!"

"Yes, but----"

Nadia could hear some quiet discussion going on in the background. Then a new voice came on the other end. "Nadia, it's your father; I realize that you're worked up about this, but we need to do this as calmly as possible. Do you see the bodies of any of the people on the plane?"

Never had Nadia been so grateful for her father's calm demeanor. As much as the others at APO thought him some kind of subhuman, the fact was his calm, cool approach at almost any kind of espionage business made clear thinking possible.

She took a deep breath and finished her first visual sweep of the place. "No," she said, "I don't see them anywhere."

"Wait a minute," Mason turned to Sloane, "what exactly are you talking about here?"

"We've made the false assumption that whoever grabbed Jack, Sydney and Nina did so in order to kill them," Sloane said rationally. "If that's the case, why send in two separate groups to do that, especially if the sole purpose of the second was to kill the first?"

As reluctant as Mason was to agree with any theory Sloane advanced, he had to admit there was certain logic to it. "So what you're saying is that that the people who shot down Jack and Sydney's plane, and the people who posed as search and rescue were each working for a separate master?"

"Even the largest and most complicated agencies don't go to the trouble of killing their own people," Sloane said dryly. "If nothing else, it's not economic."

_Great. He's comfortable enough here to be joking about being evil_. "We won't ask how many people you've ordered killed." Mason forced his thoughts back to the situation at hand. "Nadia, if Sloane's right about this, we need to find out who the soldiers that shot the plane down worked for," he ordered. "I'm going to need your team to take photos and fingerprints of every body that's on the ground."

"Son of a bitch," Nadia muttered. This, as Weiss would put it, was a whole new ballgame. Reluctantly, she realized that finding Sydney would have to wait.

"All right," she said. "But tell Marshall that the second he knows what direction he thinks they've taken Sydney and Jack to get back to me. "

"Copy," Marshall said.

**4:36:04/4:36:05/4:36:06**

Mason took this in for another ten seconds before he abruptly turned around and headed to room 7.

Vaughn moved to intercept him. "What the hell are you doing?"

Mason looked at him like he had at Sloane when he first arrived, only with Vaughn, it was more irritation than distain. "Who's acting director of CTU here?"

"We need to concentrate on finding that helicopter," Vaughn said. "You're leaving that to handle two guys who may have nothing to do with what's happening today?"

Suddenly Mason had reached his tipping point. He grabbed Vaughn by the shoulder and pulled him into a corner.

"Listen here and listen well, _Michael," _he snarled angrily. "I am well aware of how important it is to find Jack and Sydney, but we don'tknow if they're still alive, and even if they are, their captors may have decided to take them to Phoenix for all we know. It may take hours or days to find them. This cuts the number of potential leads on finding this bomb to one." He gestured toward the interrogation room. "I can't expend all the resources of this government looking for your girlfriend.You're goingto be a good little agent, and help your superior. Do you understand?"

Vaughn didn't like the delivery, but he knew the message was right on. So he said: "Yes, sir" in a contrite enough tone, and let Mason go into the room Nayer and Warner were in.

It wasn't until ten minutes later that he noticed the fresh drop of blood that had somehow landed on his arm. By then, his mind was on other things.

Nayer was standing on one side of the room and Bob Warner was still seated when George entered. "So you're both claiming not to know Sayed Ali," he said.

"It's not a claim. It's the truth." Nayer was still speaking self-righteously.

"Sit down."

"I'd rather stand," Nayer said arrogantly.

"_Sit down!" _George snapped. "Do you not understand where you are?"

Cowed, Nayer went to his seat across from Warner.

It was time to turn up the heat. "Six hours ago, a case of weapons-grade plutonium was found in a warehouse in Panorama City." George leaned into Nayer's face. "A nuclear bomb was assembled there and is scheduled to blow up today!"

Nayer paled. "A nuclear bomb?" he gasped.

"We also found this." George pulled out a piece of paper. "What do you make of _that?" _he asked as he slammed it on the table

Warner looked at the piece of paper. "This is a bill of lading from our company." He sounded rattled too.

"For a container sold to Sayed Ali. This means that at least one of you is lying." George looked at both men in turn. "I'll leave this for the two of you to discuss. First one to talk gets immunity. One time offer and it expires in ten minutes."

With that George stormed out, hoping one of them would take the bait.

**4:43:16/4:43:17/4:43:18/4:43:19**

"Faheen is dead."

"You're sure?"

"We found his body in the wreckage."

There was a pause on the other end. "Do you think he talked?" he asked.

The man who had posed as Henry Gale blinked at the seeming idiocy of the response. "Isn't that why you had us expend all our energy saving Bauer and Bristow in the first place?" he asked angrily.

"We're not paying you to doubt our orders," came the cold reply. "Ali is in play, and we don't have time for you to screw around; understand, Rutland?"

Gale/Rutland modified his tone. "Wouldn't it have been simpler to let whoever was that shot the plane down finish the job?"

"You know that Faheen was key to this whole operation."

"I also know that Faheen was devoted to the cause. Do you really think he would have spilled his guts to CTU in less than an hour?"

"Bauer and Bristow are very resourceful people, and the CIA is a very ruthless agency. And Nina Myers is the most manipulative bitch I know. We can not afford to take the chance that he revealed our endgame."

Rutland considered this. "It would have been hard enough to get Faheen to talk. It's going to be next to impossible to break Bauer or Bristow. Not in the time we have. Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill them and be done with it?"

"You know as well as I do that they both are too valuable for us to merely dispose of them." The man on the other end lowered his tone. "In any case, as long as we have them, CTU will be expending all its resources looking for them instead of Ali. That gives us a greater chance for success in the operation."

Rutland looked at his watch. "If we're going to do this, we should start now. What do want us to do with the Myers woman?"

There was a pause on the other end. "She'll say anything to stay alive. Keep her in dry dock for a little while, let her stew. Then try and make her talk. Find out if she has any information, then shoot her."

"And the other woman?" Rutland asked. "We're convinced she doesn't know anything?"

"We might be able to use her as a bargaining chip with our agent in LA. Plus, we might be able to use her as leverage for one of the other agents. Keep her alive, at least for now."

"Yes, Mr. Trepkos."

Sydney was awakened by a shower of ice cold water. It took her only a moment to get a sense of her surroundings. Her feet were tied together, as were her hands. She was lying on a hard stone floor. The room she was in was dimly lit by some broken light fixtures.

_Where the fuck am I? _

Suddenly she was yanked to her feet by an old battered rope. As she was hoisted up, she saw that she could see her captors' faces. None of them were particularly remarkable, but she could tell one thing even though the lighting was terrible: none of them were Arabs. Whoever it was who had abducted them, they had nothing to do with Second Wave.

"Who the hell are you?!" she demanded.

"We're the ones who will be asking the questions, Agent Bristow." The voice came from her right.

"You're wasting your breath," Sydney spat out. "I'm not gonna tell you jack shit."

The man to her right--- a man with a bushy red beard---- gently rubbed his hand down one of her bare shoulders. She now realized something that hadn't been obvious to her when she had roused herself: she had been stripped to her underwear. Somehow, she didn't think these people had done this to preserve her self-respect.

"We like to consider ourselves as gentlemen," Redbeard said to Sydney in that same faux gentle tone. "We don't pretend to be anything other than ruthless. But we like to believe, even in our profession, that we are capable of preserving some resemblance of dignity." He brushed his hand down her cheek. If Vaughn had done it, it might have been considered a caress.

His hand drifted close enough and Sydney bit him, hard to the bone. When Redbeard pulled back he left a chunk of himself with Sydney

She spat it back at him. "Why don't you go back to the stable where the rest of your girlfriends?"

Redbeard's response was to strike Sydney across the face hard with his other hand. A man on her left grabbed her shoulder.

"I think we can forego the rest of the foreplay." The man who had pretended to be Steve Broderick was now pulling her back up. "So we're going to give you one chance to make this painless. Who does the military have tracking the bomb?"

"Screw you." Sydney said.

"Believe me, Agent Bristow, that option is on the menu, 'Broderick' said. "Who are the men your military has tracking the bomb?"

The question opened up a world of possibilities that Sydney knew were important but couldn't tell. The military. The CIA ,FBI, Homeland, APO, CTU, but the military? Who the hell… the guys who shot at them were some kind of soldiers, but the US military? She filed all this away for later but allshe said was: "Go to hell!"

'Broderick' shook his head. "You try to be reasonable." He made a motion to one of the men on the left.

The third man said nothing at all. He merely rubbed his hand down her leg--- until it found small wound that Sydney must have gotten in the crash. He took a small brown bottle, and waved it under Sydney's nose.

She had just enough time to register it as some kind of acid before an incredible pain came shooting through Sydney's body. A lesser woman would have screamed. As it was, it took a huge amount of willpower for her not to.

Focusing on the steel in her that gotten her through much worse, she snarled: "This the only way you know to get off?"

The response was a much larger dose of the acid in her wound, followed a small instrument being lodged in the leg. She bit the inside of her cheeks, but this time the scream of pain was audible.

"Believe me when I tell you that this is one of the _weaker _acids we have on hand," 'Broderick' said. "Would you like to save us from trying them out?"

This time Sydney didn't say anything. Her expression kept saying _no sale._

Broderick gave another nod. Another chemical was poured.

This time no effort could suppress the yell.

**4:51:08/4:51:09/4:51:10/4:51:11**

Mason had asked Vaughn and Weiss to take Reza Nayer to Warner Enterprises in order to see if Nayer really could track the shipping order. They were taking Nayer downstairs when Reza asked if he could speak with Marie.

" She'll be here when you get back," Vaughn said without looking up.

"We were supposed to get married in an hour," Nayer implored. "Just give me one minute, please."

Perhaps because, once upon a time, he had been in a situation like this, he relented, "All right. One minute."

As Marie walked up to him Vaughn walked over to Weiss. As Marie embraced her fiancée, Weiss said, "Somehow, I don't think this relationship is going to survive the day."

"Why, just because he's accused his future father-in-law of treason?" Vaughn said quietly. "I've seen worse."

Both smiled for a half-second. Their smiles faded as they heard Reza tell Marie he wasn't going to need a lawyer, but her father might. Studying their body language, Weiss asked, "Who do you think is lying?"

"I don't know," admitted Vaughn "All of the biological and electronic tests haven't told us a damn thing. But I just…" He trailed off.

"What?"

"Someone in the Warner household is lying to us. I don't think Bob Warner's guilty despite what Nayer may think, and I don't think Nayer would be helping us this willingly if he was guilty. That leaves…"

Again Vaughn trailed off. Weiss was about to ask him again when Marie bolted away from Reza--- he had just told her about her father's supposed connection to Sayed Ali.

At that moment, Marshall ran over to the two of them. "Guys, I think I've found which way they've taken Jack and Sydney."

Understandably both agents perked up at this. "How sure are you?" Vaughn asked.

"Well, I managed to re-task the satellite to the crash site, and I used the telemetry…" Marshall trailed off when he saw Vaughn's expression. "You really don't need to know all the details. Point is I can now chart the chopper that grabbed Jack and Sydney heading northwestward over these forest for five minutes until it came in for a landing here." He tapped some keys to bring up a section of Bakersfield.

"What makes you so sure that's where they're being held?" Weiss asked.

"Because there's a string of abandoned metal refineries that have been out of business for two years. Less than three weeks ago those same buildings were purchased by Starburst Industries."

"I'm not sure I follow," Vaughn said.

"Starburst Industries is a shell corporation," Sloane spoke up. "It's a front company for the Covenant."

"As if we needed convincing that the Covenant's involved in what's happening today," Vaughn said as he picked up the earpiece. "Nadia, did you get all of this?"

"Copy that," Nadia said. "According to the pilot, we can be there in ten minutes."

"Whoa, hold on a moment." Mason chose that moment to pop up. "You thinking you're just going fly in there and rescue Jack and Sydney That stretch of abandoned factories is five miles **i**away from Bakersfeld. They're gonna hear you coming a mile away. They hear that, ballgame's over."

"How else are we supposed to rescue them?" Vaughn asked.

"Land your helicopter two or three miles away from the factories and go the rest of the _**distance**_ on foot," Sloane suggested. "I imagine we can get ground units from Bakersfield to back you up."

"The world must be ending," Mason said, "but I'm going to agree with what he just said."

"Really?" Tony sounded more skeptical than Mason did.

"Get on the move. I'll call Bakersfield; have them send backup support. Get in the air."

There was a hesitation on the other end. "I didn't find Nina's body," Nadia said.

Everyone picked up at that. "You sure?" Vaughn said.

"Lot of corpses on the ground here," Nadia said, "but Nina's wasn't one of them. They took her along with Jack and Sydney."

"Nina and Jack being held prisoner together," Mason said slowly. "This isn't going to end well."

Jack's head was pulled from the bucket of water seconds before he lost consciousness. The two men who had pushed his head into lifted him back into his chair.

Jack's hands were cuffed, his feet bound together. He didn't know where he was, where Sydney was, where Nina was. He couldn't even begin to guess who had taken him prisoner. All he knew was that they wanted information out of he that he didn't know, and when they finally realized he didn't know it, they were going to kill him.

"Let's try this again," the speaker to his immediate right said. "Did Faheen tell you about Cyprus?"

Jack said nothing. He merely gagged and spat.

"Your life may not be worth much to you," the speaker said. "What about the lives of your fellow agents? Do you think she should suffer the same fate?"

Jack could hear the sounds of a woman bellowing somewhere. It might be Sydney; it might not. He had no idea why kind of tricks these people would play.

"So many people have suffered and died for the secrets you keep, Mr. Bauer," the voice said. "Do you really want another woman to die?"

"Agent Bristow--- is prepared--- to die for her country," Jack managed to gasp out. "I am---prepared to do--- the same… but not----before I…. kill…. you."

The speaker shook his head, and then made an unnoticeable gesture. They began to drowm Jack again.

In another room, not that far away, Rutland spoke with the woman in a cage. "I suppose you're taking some satisfaction from this, Nina," he said, indicating the screams and growls.

"It doesn't suck," Nina's face held the expectant smile of leopard circling a zebra. "But I've just come from a year in prison. Takes a lot more to float my boat."

"Really," Rutland said.

"Just keep torturing him for say, another half-hour, I'll tell you everything you need to want to know about Faheen's last words." Nina shook her head. "I'd just like to sit and hear him scream."

**4:59:57/4:59:58/4:59:59/5:00:00**


	10. 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Chapter 10

**The Following Takes Place Between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.**

Sydney blinked, her senses coming back to her once her mind stopped being a pure white noise of pain. For some reason, she was left alone. Shehad no idea why they'd stopped working on her, and she didn't know for how long the break would be. All she knew was that she needed to take this opportunity to try and get a handle on where she was, and the best way to get hell out of here.

Sydney was pretty sure she was in some kind of factory or machine shop. The room was essentially a windowless box with bad lighting, with only the door for an exit. She tried moving, but she was still pretty well hog-tied, her hands roped togetherabove her and her feet bound the same way She tried to catchevery detail in the room, looking for some way out.

Suddenly, the door opened. Two more flunkies came in carrying a young woman. She was bound and tied up pretty much the same way as Sydney was, and she looked scared.

"Get in here," one of the flunkies said as he threw her to the ground. They took a long, leering look at both of them before they ducked out again.

Sydney knew that this woman could be just another tool of whoever were trying to break her, but she didn't have time to dwell on it. Any second these people were going to come back in, and resume interrogating her on stuff she didn't know. When they figured out she didn't know what they were talking about, or that she was no longer worth holding on to, they would kill her. Mason and Sloane probably had rescue teams looking for them, but they probably had no idea where to look. And Jack, assuming he was still alive, was nowhere in sight.

_All right, the odds against me. Is there anything I can use that might help me get out of here?_

The door began to open. Sydney got ready.

**5:04:29/5:04:30/5:04:31**

Vaughn had been ready to go with Nayer to Warner Enterprises when Mason had told him to hang back.

As Mason had said, "With Sydney and Jack out of play, we need as many capable people around here as possible, especially if the rescue mission goes bad."

In truth, Vaughn wasn't sure he would have been able to give his full attention to his job had he been dispatched. He was worried about Sydney, of course, but he knew she could not only take care of herself, but anyone in her way. Vaughn studied Mason as he walked away, then started for Tony Almeida.

"How long until Nadia's team reaches the facility?" Michael asked.

"She's on the ground now. ETA is eight minutes."

Vaughn nodded, and lowered his voice"What's wrong with Mason? Michelle tells me he was in Panorama City earlier today. That same area is crawling with Hazmat right now. Mason's been coughing up a storm ever since he came back, and Marshall saw him with a nosebleed. It doesn't take a genius to figure out he's got some kind of radiation poisoning. What I want to know is how serious it is."

Tony knew that Vaughn had him in check. "It's pretty bad," he admitted.

"Is he going to die?" Vaughn bore down.

Tony nodded.

Vaughn was filled with a mixture of compassion and anger. He did not particularly like George Mason, but it was stilla crappy way to die, so he hated herself for asking the next question. "Can he do his job?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"You know that's not good enough on a day like today. If he's compromised mentally or physically—"

"No. Listen Michael, he can do his job." Tony looked around and continued. "He wants to do his job like I've never seen him before."

"How long does he have?"

"Probably, he'll be dead by this time tomorrow" Tony reluctantly admitted. "If not sooner."

"So the agency tasked with finding a nuclear bomb is being run by a dead man walking." Vaughn hated himself for being this cold, but he had to say this. "Someone has to call in a replacement now."

"According to protocol, the man would be Sloane; you really want him leading this hunt?" Tony's voice had gone up a notch; he lowered it. "Look, I've never been George's biggest booster, but so far every call he's made today has been the right one. Besides, you want to tell a guy who's given his life for his country that they don't need him anymore?"

That was underhanded, but it worked. Vaughn paused. "Fine, I'll be quiet. But you had better make sure he keeps it together. Otherwise, it won't be up to us."

And Vaughn walked back over to Marshall, hoping he was doing the right thing.

Weiss was the first one into Reza's officeRichardson trailing behind, guarding Nayer. Neither of them thought Rezawas going to act up but they didn't see the point of taking any chances.

Richardson un-cuffed Reza and walked him to his desk. "Have a seat."

Once Nayer sat down, Weiss cuffed him to the armrest of the chair. "I can't work like this."

"You're not going to; I will." Weiss turned on the computer. Once the screen was on he asked: "How do I access the invoice file?"

Nayer didn't answer right away. When Weiss turned back to him, he was looking away, apparently stressed. "Mr. Nayer?"

"Access the 'open warehouse' file," Nayer said tiredly.

Weiss did. "How are they organized?"

"Chronologically, I think."

Weiss looked at him as looked at him as though he were joking. "You think?"

Nayer had the gall to look irked. "My fiancée just dumped me on my wedding day because I'm sending her father to prison," he said angrily. " Since he's my boss, I'm pretty sure that my life's in the toilet. So why don't you cut me some slack?"

Now Weiss was starting to get pissed. "Hey I was nearly blown to bits six hours ago by the same people whohave access to a nuke that they plan to set off today. So if you don't stop pissing and moaning I'm going to take you back to CTU, cuff you to the roof and leave you there until the goddamn thing goes off." Weiss got right in Nayer's face. "Are we clear?"

**5:13:06/5:13:07/5:13:08/5:13:09**

They had dunked Jack's head three more times before deciding it wasn't effective. After that, there were sharp instruments, but Jack had they feeling were just warming up.

Sure enough, the man Jack had heard called Broderick entered the room with two long wires with the covers worn off the two of them.

"Now I like pain and agony as much as the next fellow," Broderick said, "but the fact that is we've just about run out of time to play."

He touched the two wires together. Jack could see the electrical sparks. "Last chance, Mr. Bauer. Who does the military have tracking the bomb? And did Faheen tell you about Cyprus?"

Suddenly, Jack could see a way out. It was very dangerous, especially considering how wet he was, but if he didn't take this opportunity, he was going to be dead anyway. Whoever these people were, they weren't dicking around.

" Go… to…. Hell!" he gasped out.

Broderick's expression didn't change. "They say it takes a lot of electricity to stop a man's heart," he said quietly. "We've got a pool saying on how many doses its going take to turn you to mush. I'm betting it takes one."

Broderick moved forward, getting ready to fuse the wires together. At that exact moment, Jack found enough strength to kick his legs forward far enough to knock over the basin of water that they had been using on him.

Broderick couldn't react fast enough. The instant the water touched his legs; his body began quivering and dancing. Smoke began to rise from his clothes.

There had been three men in the room torturing Jack when Broderick had come in. Of the three, only one was stupid enough to run towards his boss when he started his electric boogaloo. This inferior human being stepped in a puddle of the electrified water, and therefore enjoyed the same fate as his compatriot.

The lights flickered as the two men fried. At several moments the lights dimmed completely.

By Jack's best estimate, it took half a minute for Broderick to die. However, by the time the remaining two thugs had turned around to deal with him, Jack had managed to propel his chair to the floor, and using all his reserve strength yanked his feet free.

The first flunky had pulled his gun and was about to fire when Jack managed to find his feet and spun around, effectively using the chair legs as clubsThis knocked the man to the floor, unconscious. However, this still left Jack with one assassin and this had the good sense to stay four feet away.

Jack rolled to the floorthe impact shattering thewooden chair frame _**as**_ he kept rolling. Had the gunman simply dropped to a crouch lowering himself to Jack's level, he would have had no problem. Instead, Jack's roll carried himself into the gunman's legs, cutting them out from under him.

Bauer pushed off his feet, and rolled back, traveling over the gunman's body, pinning him to the floor with Jack's own weight. By the time he got to the man's shoulders, Jack was on his back. He raised both his legs only to drop them firmly on the gunman's pistol hand, shattering bones in his hands and fingers. Jack drew his legs up and rolled again, to his knees, one on the floor, the other pushing down against the back of the gunman's neck.

"Tell me who you're working for," Jack growled in a harsh whisper.

The assassin flailed his other undamaged arm at Jack, hoping to hit Jack in the balls--- only hitting his inner thigh.

Jack shifted his weight, entirely on to his left knee, breaking his captor's neck.

There was a sound of a gun being cocked from the doorway. Jack looked up to see another gunman--- he obviously had been the guard outside in the hall.

"Nice try, but this is where it ends."

Two shots rang out. He fell over, leaving a young, dark-haired woman behind him.

Nadia ran over to Jack. "Who has the keys?" she demanded.

Jack looked around. "Check the guy on the left," he said. "Just be careful. There may be some charge in those wires."

Nadia checked around and dug them up. "You have any idea where Sydney is?" she asked as she unlocked Jack's hands.

"I'm not sure," Jack admitted. "Where are we?"

"Just outside of Bakersfield. Marshall tracked the fake rescue chopper to this location."

Jack walked over to the second flunky, and began to pull off the flunky's shirt while grabbing his gun. "Do you have any idea how many hostiles are in the building?"

"Thermal scans indicated that there were seventeen people in this facility," Nadia said. "I assume you, Sydney and Nina were three of them, I took out two hostiles getting in, and there are four on the ground here."

"That leaves eight," Jack stuck the gun in his belt, and walked out with Nadia into the hallway. "You go left; I'll go right. If you see Nina, be careful; I don't know if she's working with these people or not, and right now, we still need to know what she does."

Nadia looked at Jack doubtfully. "You're sure you can do this?"

"**I'll**be fine," Jack insisted, "Besides, we don't have time to waste."

Strung up in the air, left alone in the machine room, Sydney had been hearing gunshots for the last five minutes. She hoped that this meant the cavalry was actually here, and not another group of impostors. On the off-chance that it wasn't, she was going to her damnedest to get the hell out of here.

She had managed to work almost free of the ropes that bound her legs, and was now just hoping that last inch of the rope would give.

Unfortunately, at that moment, her two interrogators returned,their guns out and looking extremely pissed.

"I knew that this whole thing was a fucking bad idea," the first thug said.

"Now is not the time to whine," the other replied. "Let's just the kill the bitch and get the fuck out of Dodge."

Sydney pulled herself up by her restraints and kicking out with both of her bound feet, swingingforward into the thugs. The first impact caught one assailant full in the chest, knocking him down. Before inertia could swing her back, she drove both feet down, into the gun hand of the other flunky. She let go of the restraints above her, and the force of her drop yanked her hands free above her, while all the kicking had finally freed the legs from the last of the rope

"You bitch!" the first gunman said, and fired at her from the floor.

The first shot went wild, and Sydney wasn't going to disarm him while his partner was in the room. She sidestepped to her left, putting the second assailant between her and the other, armed, gunman.

The upright attacker launcheda fast right cross. She parried with her left hand, using a palm strike, redirecting the force of his punch so it flew past her right ear. Her hand then clamped on to his arm, pushing it down so that the wrist pushed against her shoulder. Her right hand snapped up, _**QUICK**_ as a viper strike, and grabbed his elbow, pushing on it. The effect was that his arm was locked open, fully extended, with no way to yank it back.

Leaving his right side completely open.

With a roundhouse twist, Sydney drove her left knee into his kidney, making him howl. She kept doing it, and when she finally dropped her left leg to the floor, it was extended stretching her left leg behind his right side. She repeated the procedure several times into his stomach and groin, driving his genitals so deep into his abdomen, one of his shouts hit the soprano range.

Syd jerked her left leg back, sweeping it under the attacker, cutting out both his legs from under him. With her grip still firm on his arm, she pushed him, leveraging him backwards, on top of his partner, and his gun.

With her following them, this drove over three hundred pounds on top of the fallen gunman. However, he was in the middle of rising to his feet and was able to push back on Syd and her neutralized human shield.

Bristow fell back on the floor, the second shooter still between her and the gun. She drew her legs toher chest, and kicked out, using both feet to push him into the other gunman, knocking him back long enough for her to get to her feet again

Sydney flew at him too fast for him to properly aim, so instead, he lashed his pistol across her face, which whipped her around. The next thing she knew, his gun was in her back.

"Very nice," he murmured into her ear.

Sydney whirled counterclockwise, swinging down her left arm to knock the muzzle away. Her left arm wrapped itself around his arm, locking it in place--- the gun was trapped behind Sydney's back, his hand pressed against her kidney, but unable to readjust to get her in his gunsight. She did something he didn't expect, and stepped towards him swinging a right elbow straight into his temple, snapping his head back, she reached around his locked arm, grabbed the barrel of the weapon, and pulled back, twisting it from his fingers. She pistol whipped his temple, knocking him out. She let him fall to the floor, his gun in her hand.

"Christ, if I'd known you and Jack could take care of yourself, I wouldn't have pressed Mason that hard for the rescue team."

Sydney looked up and blinked. "Nadia?"

Her half-sister entered the room and smiled

"Who the hell are these people? Covenant?" Syd asked as she took the opportunity to relieve the second man of his shirt.

"That's the popular opinion," Nadia said. "What the hell did they want from you?"

"A lot of information we didn't have," Sydney admitted. The shirt was far too big but at least she wouldn't look ridiculous killing the rest of these bastards.

"Who's the woman in the cage?"

"Of all the things to forget," Sydney said to herself. "I don't know. Cut her loose, find out who she is and what the hell the Covenant wants from her."

Nadia knelt by the woman. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be all right," She undid the woman's bonds. "What's your name?"

"Kate," the woman mumbled. "Kate Warner."

**5:25:41/5:25:42/5:25:43**

"Retreat!" Rutland yelled into his walkie-talkie. He grabbed Nina by the shoulder. "You're coming with me, bitch!"

Nina's shout of disagreement was covered by the sounds of gunfire. "You really think that you send a better chance with him?" Rutland yelled. Nina shut up and started following him.

Unfortunately, a few seconds later Jack Bauer appeared in the room, looking as pissed as hell. He put three bullets in Rutland and then came further in.

Nina looked at the gun on the floor. "Don't even think about it," Jack snarled. "Put your hands behind your head."

"Talk about déjà vu all over again," Sydney said as she entered the room. "Miss Myers what is it about you that inspires so many people to blow your head off?"

"He was going to kill me."

"No, I wasn't," Jack lowered his weapon. "I've been through way too much shit in the last five hours trying to get this information just to kill you now." He looked at her. "They didn't treat you roughly. Does that mean they were friends of yours?"

"Here's a hint," Sydney said as she walked up to Nina. "I'm pretty sure they're Covenant, a word you said to the late Mr. Faheen. Did they plan this rescue mission? I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty sure that would violate the pardon you got."

Nina saw her chances for escaping shrinking by the second. "I never saw them before," she said frantically. "They said they would offer me a better deal than the government was. Freedom, money, power--- all I had to do was tell them what Faheen said while he was in custody."

Sydney looked at Jack. "I guess you were right about her all along."

"Do we still need her?" Jack asked.

"From what I've heard, the President is an honorable man. Now I have no doubt if you were to," Sydney lowered her weapon, "die trying to escape, he would be upset. But I won't put you or him in that position. Instead, I'm going to make you a deal of my own." Sydney leaned in. "You're going to tell us what Faheen said about the bomb. Then you're going to get on a plane and fly to a continent, far, far away. And once you're there, you're going to find a hole deep enough that you can crawl into, and you're not going to get so much as a traffic ticket for the rest of your miserable life. Because the unit I work with tracks down and stop_**s **_scum like you. And if you do anything to register on my radar--- and trust me when I tell you, this radar has a very long range--- I will make it my personal business to hunt you down and bring you to justice. And I'll make certain Jack is front row center for your last moments. Are we absolutely clear, Nina?"

At that moment, the radio blared. "Sydney, have you got Nina?" Nadia's voice said.

"Yeah, she's with me and Jack." Sydney answered.

"How do you want us to handle her?"

Sydney looked at Jack. "Get her out of my sight," he said. "But hold off interrogating her, until we've finished going over this place for evidence. Maybe we won't need her."

"I'm on my way back," Sydney said into the radio. As she grabbed Nina, she turned back to Jack. "Jack, I meant what I said. But believe me when I tell you, the bitch isn't worth it."

Jack just thought this over as they walked Nina away.

**5:31:15/5:31:16/5:31:17/5:31:18**

Sydney and Nadia were updating CTU on the rescue mission.

"Not that I'm not glad to see all of you again," Mason said, "but do we have any idea who these people are?"

"How about we deal with a more pertinent questions?" Sydney asked."Who shot our plane down in the first place?"

"We've been working on that," Sloane said back at CTU. "It's pretty clear that the soldiers were American, at least from what we managed to get from the fingerprints and photos."

"US military?" Nadia asked.

"Looks that way," Mason said. "Something else; all of them had tattoo on their arms. Design appeared to be that of a blue-green snake. We're cross-checking the military databases to see if we can find any matches----"

"They had a snake tattooed on their arms?" Jack had rejoined Sydney and Nadia, and had heard that last bit. Jack eyes narrowed. "Can you show me an image?"

Marshall quickly sent an image to Nadia's field phone. Jack immediately said, "George, the soldiers that shot down the plane was a deep-cover, special ops unit detailed out of Fort Bening." Jack said into the radio. "Code name is Coral Snake. Early in my career, one of them tried to recruit me. Their leader is a Colonel Samuels. They're a special detail under the budget of NSA."

"Wait a minute," Sydney said. "NSA's running the hunt to find the bomb. Why would a unit under their oversight be operating to try and undermine their own work?"

"I don't know," Sloane said. "But I just finished running a check on the people who had access to your flight plan. One name stands out. Roger Stanton."

There was a horrified pause as the news sunk in."You're saying the head of NSA is responsible for impeding the search for this bomb?' Nadia finally asked.

"There have been a lot of suspicious things going on at Northwest Regional," Sloane said. "And all of them seem to connect to Stanton."

Mason gave a huge sigh. "I can't just go back to the President and tell him the head of NSA is a traitor," he said. "Not without more evidence than a tattoo and a list."

"George, if Stanton is impeding the search for the bomb, the President's authority is being undermined," Jack said. "He needs to be informed."

"Have we got anything else to help us here?" Mason demanded.

"I've got two cell phones that the terrorists were using," Sydney said. "I've been downloading the last ten calls that were made on them over to Marshall's computer. "

"I'm in the middle of back-tracing them now," Marshall said. "There's some encryption involved but nothing mind-bending. I should have something for you in five minutes."

"What about this prisoner that the terrorists were holding?" Sloane asked.

"I've been giving Miss Warner a few minutes to calm down," Nadia said. "I'm ready to question her now."

"Hold it," Vaughn said. "Did you say Warner?"

"That's Bob Warner's access code," Nayer told Weiss as he raised one of the screens.

Suddenly, from the other sideof the doors. "I need to see Reza," a muffled female voice said.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Miss Warner," came Richardson's voice, identifying the other speaker.

Weiss decided that he'd better head this off now. He got up, walked to the door, and opened. Yep, Marie Warner. "I tried to explain the situation to her,"Richardson said apologetically.

"I just need to see Reza for one minute," Marie Warner said humbly.

Weiss knew they were on a timetable, but it wouldbe easier to give Marie what she wanted and get her out rather than waste time arguing. "Make it fast," he said, as he let Marie into the room.

Marie ran to Nayer and kissed him. "I'm sorry, Reza, I was just in shock earlier."

Reza _**blinked, **_amazed to see her. "It's all right," he said as they embraced.

"You're the man I'm going to marry," Marie said "and I know that you're only doing this because you have to."

Weiss allowed this nauseating little scene to continue another ten seconds before walking back over to Nayer. "Look, we have to get back to work," he said coolly. "If you want, you can wait in the next room."

"Of course," Marie kissed Nayer again, got up and walked outside.

**5:39:52/5:39:53/5:39:54/5:39:55**

After getting a summary of CTU's dealings with the Warner's, they all decided that Sydney would do a one-on-one 'soft' interview with Kate. Jack would stay in touch with Marshall going through the terrorists' phones, while Nadia did another run through the place looking for any kind of information in the building as to who had abducted them.

Kate Warner was blonde, and around Sydney's age. She had been bound and gagged, but there was no obvious evidence of torture. Sydney couldn't figure out why, given the lengths the people had been willing to get intel from her and Jack, that they would leave this ordinary woman alone; she hoped Kate might be able to illuminate her a little.

"Kate," she said in a gentle voice, "my name is Sydney Bristow. I work with CTU. I realize that you've just been through a very traumatic experience--- both of us have--- but if you could answer some questions, it might help us understand why this happened. Can you handle that?"

There was a long hesitation. "I… think so," Kate finally managed.

"Good." Sydney sat down next to Kate, and was reminded yet again that she was going to be essentially questioning the woman in her underwear. It was an inane thing to be concerned with, but it was another reminder of the indignities these people had put her through.

She managed to put the thought out of her head. "Start with this afternoon. How did you get here?"

"I was trying to help my sister," Kate began. "I hired a private investigator. I brought him to the house to go over my father's computer…They said that my father transferred funds to Syed Ali. I was looking for some evidence that might explain why. We went over the company financial records looking for it, but we'd just gotten started when the files started deleting themselves."

Sydney knew that this was a fail-safe function of a lot of computers with government programs. "What happened next?"

"I went out to walk Paul--- that was the investigator's name---- to his car." Kate paused. "All of a sudden these two men grabbed us and…." She shook her head. "They must have drugged us, because the next thing I remembered we were here."

"Where exactly?" Sydney pressed.

Kate thought for a moment. "Three rooms over", she hesitated "to the left."

Sydney paused delicately. "I realize this is difficult," she asked, "But we need to know what happened."

Kate swallowed. "They had stripped Paul naked, and they started beating and whipping him. They kept asking us, did I see Ali's name on the computer files? I told them I hadn't, that neither of us had, but they didn't believe us."

"Hold on a second," Sydney spoke into the radio. "Tell Marshall that I need him to tap into Bob Warner's computer files. We might have something there on Ali's location."

She focused her attention back on Kate. "What happened next?"

"They just said, 'All right, we believe you.' Then----"Kate's breathing got tighter "They shot Paul. I was sure they were going to kill me, but one of them said 'Keep her alive until our operative completes their mission.' That's when they tied me up and stuck me in the cage with you."

"Kate, is there anything that you remember that might help us figure out who these people were?" Sydney asked.

"Yes," Kate said. "The room I was in had a series of TV monitors in it. Each of them was following a different person. One of the monitors had Syed Ali on it."

"How do you know that?" Sydney asked.

"The man in the room made a phone call and that Arab picked it up. They were speaking in Arabic, and Ali's name was mentioned."

"How did you know they were speaking Arabic?"

"My family lived in Saudi Arabia when I was younger." Kate said. "When my sister got engaged to Reza, I picked some of it up again."

"Can you describe the man who made that call?"

"Tall, thin with a mustache," Kate said. "Black shirt with buttons down the side, black pants."

"Thanks Kate. I'll be back to talk with you in a minute."

**5:47:22/5:47:23/5:47:24**

"Marshall, have you gotten anywhere with that cell phone?" Sydney asked.

"Yeah, I may have something. This is the last call that Broderick made." Marshall pressed some keys at his computer.

"'The woman knows nothing.'" It was Broderick's voice, but he was speaking in Arabic. 'One hundred percent certain. You may proceed with your mission.'

'I am going to pray one last time. When I'm done, the last piece of our plan will be set into motion. By midnight, the skies will be on fire.'

'Excellent. Allah wak bar.'

The call ended.

"The name and address it's registered to are phonies." Marshall said. "But there was enough there for a voiceprint analysis. There's a ninety percent certainty he was talking to Syed Ali."

"Marshall, do you have any idea where that call was made from?"

"Sorry, Syd, the best I can do is nail it down within a twenty-mile radius," Marshall shook his head.

Sydney's mind was working furiously. "Marshall, I need you to do a search within that radius. Every mosque within the range of that cell tower."

"Mosque?" Marshall said.

"Ali said he wanted to pray. The timing fits. Get back to me as fast as possible."

**5:50:19/5:50:20/5:50:21/5:50:22**

They found the body of Paul Copeland three rooms south of where they had kept Jack. The man had been stripped naked and hung from one of the pillars of the building, the body beaten, burned and bloody. Whoever these people were, they weren't subtle.

The room also had a series of monitors in it--- all of them were blank now. Nadia was finishing her sweep when Jack entered. He spared only a brief look at Copeland before he spoke to Nadia. "Find anything?"

Nadia shook her head. "Our people just finished taking the prints and pictures of everybody building. So far, they've managed to ID five of the thirteen people."

"Anyone we know?" Jack asked.

"So far, all of them appear to be low level thugs. Three Americans, two from Europe. All of them had criminal records, but none of them had any international connection, or were associated with any single agency."

"Did we find anything to link them to the Covenant?" Nadia looked up, surprised--- she hadn't thought Jack would have known of that association.

Jack saw her surprise. "Sydney mentioned them before our plane was shot down. She heavily suspected that they're tied to what's happening today."

"We've got no concrete evidence they're behind this, but they're one of the few organizations that would have the resources and the will to back an operation like this. "

Sydney entered the room. She was now wearing a pair of ill-fitting slacks. "Bakersfield ops just showed up," she told them. "They're ready to take us where we need to go. We have Syed Ali's location." Sydney watched as Jack and Nadia perked up at that. "I just ran down the last phone call our good friend Mr. Rutland made. Our intel confirmed he talked to Syed Ali just before he started to work on us. The last thing Alisaidwas that he wanted to go pray. Marshall managed to triangulate the area Ali was calling from. There's just one mosque within the radius of that phone signal," Sydney looked at her watch, "and the nightfall prayer service should be beginning within the next thirty minutes."

Jack considered this. "Well, then we'd better get out of here." He started to leave.

Despite herself, Sydney stepped in front of Jack. "Whoa-whoa-whoa Jack. Idon't know how things work at your agency, but when I get tortured by a group of terrorists, I like to find out who they were in case they try to do it again."

"I realize that, Sydney, but right now we can't afford to get bogged down chasing ghosts," Jack said.

"These ghosts, as you put it, most likely are the ones behind the nuke," Sydney argued."

"Agent Bauer's right." Sydney was stunned to see Nadia speaking up. "We can't afford to wait around for the rest of the background searches to come through. We've already lost two hours finding you, which means the terrorists are that much closer to achieving their goal. If the Covenant's behind this, we'll run into them soon enough. We have to concentrate on finding Syed Ali. The follow-up teams can take care of this."

Sydney sighed and rubbed her nose. "All right. One last thing. Marshall has a voiceprint on Ali but no picture. That means the only person who knows what Syed Ali looks like is Kate Warner." She put her hand to her head. "We have to take her with us."

**5:56:20/5:56:21/5:56:22**

"This can't be right." Nayer seemed disturbed. "This is the backlog of a shipping order. It was called in last January. But Bob and I were both in Europe at the time. And it's not international," Reza shook his head, thenlooked at the monitor and paled. "Somebody hacked in using my computer."

Weiss looked towards Reza --- a huge error on his part. " You left your laptop here? Who had access?"

"Nobody…Except----"

Weiss saw something out of the corner of his eye. Before he could react, he had fallen on the ground, a bullet in his chest.

Reza didn't seem to notice the man dying in front of him. All he could see was the person who'd betrayed him--- betrayed all of them. "Marie."

"I didn'texpect you to find anything," Marie Warner said calmly. "I underestimated you."

And now, even though he was looking into the face of his own death, Reza couldn't seem to get past the deception. "The last two years, they were all a lie," He sounded half angry, half crying. "How could you do this? Say something."

An expression that might have been pity appeared in Marie's eyes. "You're really very sweet," she said in a detached tone.

The last thing Weiss heard before losing consciousness was the second shot.

**5:59:57/5:59:58/5:59:59/6:00:00**


	11. 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM

Chapter 11

**The Following Takes Place Between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M.**

Since Sydney had already established a rapport with Kate Warner, she had agreed to ride with her. Sydney didn't know whether it was a good idea to keep babying the woman, but she decided it might be safest for now.

The cell tower which had routed the last call Sayed Ali had made was in Chatsworth, which was roughly twenty minutes away by car—they didn't want to risk tipping him off by taking the helicopter. Fortunately, there was only one mosque in Chatsworth, and evening prayer had just begun. If allwent well, they could have the place surrounded and trap the terrorist before he walked out the door.

Jack and Nadia had already updated CTU, so Sydney decided to call Dixon at Division. Protocol aside, she knew that her former partner had to have been worried about her, and she wanted to try and talk a couple of other things out with him.

"So you're telling me that Jack thinks some soldiers from NSA shot the plane down?" he asked.

"Nadia confirmed it was identical to the ones she found on the dead soldiers at the crash site," Sydney said. "Which begs the question, what the hell does NSA have to do with this, and how are they connected to the Covenant?"

Dixon hesitated. "Sydney, I need to tell you something," he said. "When you and Jack were in the air to Visalia, Sloane called me and said that he had evidence that there was a government conspiracy undermining the search for the bomb."

"Why am I not shocked to hear that?" Sydney sighed, "Come on, Dixon, by now you know to take everything that man says with a grain of arsenic."

"I know," Dixon said "but I've been monitoring the situation at Northwest Regional, and given everything that's happened over the past eight hours, his information might not be far off."

Sydney considered this for a moment. "Sloane said that he believed Roger Stanton was responsible for giving our flight plan to the Coral Snake team," she said slowly. "Does your information confirm this?"

"Yes. Furthermore, I have an independent source confirming that President Palmer has gone to the Attorney General and asked that a warrant be sworn out for Stanton's arrest. He did so, by the way, without any assistance from me or Sloane."

This was a lot to process, and right now Sydney wasn't sure that she could deal with it. "Well, if the President is doing this, it's out of our hands, at least for now. Unless we can find some link between Stanton and the Covenant, it's not our headache."

Dixon sounded baffled. "Syd, three hours ago, you wanted to go to war against the Covenant."

"Yeah, well, getting shot out of the sky and being tortured takes a lot out of you."

"Christ, Syd, I'm sorry," Dixon said apologetically.

"Don't be," Sydney said dismissively. "I find myself agreeing with Agent Bauer, I just want to stop this threat and crawl into bed."

"Well, you might be able to pull that off within the next few hours."

"Dixon, has anything today gone as planned?" Sydney asked. "I'll call when we have Ali."

"Good luck, Syd" Dixon hung up.

**6:05:09/6:05:10/6:05:11**

Vaughn walked over to Michelle. "Have we got the tactical teams in place yet?" he asked.

"They're getting set up now," Michelle said.

"This is a bad idea," Vaughn said. "We have no idea if Ali was hiding out in Chatsworth. For all we know, he was driving through it on his way to Fresno."

"If Ali was serious about wanting to pray, he'd go to the closest possible mosque," Tony pointed out. "Besides, we spoke with Nina. She gave us Ali's last known address. It was in Chatsworth."

"Have we got any way of confirming that Kate Warner even saw Ali?" Vaughn asked.

Michelle almost smiled. "You APO people really do specialize in paranoia, don't you?"

Marshall, however,shook his head. "The monitors that we found in Bakersfield were scrambled before Nadia and her team moved in," he said. "Plus we have no idea how much footage the Covenant shot of them in the first place. It would take me hours to go through all of it."

Vaughn shook his head again. "We're putting all our eggs in one basket. If Ali isn't at this mosque, we don't have another lead to follow." He looked at Marshall. "Have you gotten anywhere with the ID's of the people who held Jack and Sydney hostage?"

"I've been working on it," Marshall said. "I've been cross-checking all the faces and fingerprints. All the background checks have said is that they were mercenaries, some with ties tothe Covenant. I'm trying to find something that linksthem to Second Wave, but these kinds of trails can be serpentine at the best of times."

"I know," Vaughn had taken out his cell and had starting dialing. "Maybe Weiss has found something out with Reza Nayer."

The phone rang several times. Vaughn was staring to wonder where the hell Eric was when suddenly Michelle tapped him on the shoulder. "They've arrived," she said.

Sydney's car had pulled into the parking garage across the street from the mosque. She got out and walked over to Jack and Nadia who were checking in with the other team leaders.

"Are the teams ready?" she asked Nadia.

Nadia nodded. "We've got thirty people ready to go on our orders." She gestured towards the car. "Is Kate Warner ready?"

"She may need a minute," Sydney paused. "I just told her about the nuke."

Jack looked up at this. "You sure that was a good idea?" he asked. "The woman has already seen her father arrested, was abducted and saw a man die in front of her. I can't imagine she'd want to keep going."

Sydney_**'**_s eyes narrowed at him. "She deserved to know what was going on, and I'm getting tired of keeping secrets."

Jack almost smiled. "But I thought that was your natural state." The wisp of humor vanished, and he asked,"You sure she'll be alright?"

Bynow Kate had gotten out of the car. "I think so," Sydney turned her attention back to Jack and Nadia. "Do we have any idea how many people are in this mosque?"

Nadia nodded. "Somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and thirty. How thin do you think our ranks should be?"

"We're not going in," Bauer said.

Sydney couldn't help herself. "Excuse me?"

"We have a crowd control problem," Jack said "If there are too many people between us and Ali, he'll take advantage of the situation to kill himself before Kate can identify him. And I don't think he'll be considerate enough to pray next to the front door."

"Then how do you want to proceed?" Sydney asked.

"We wait for the prayer service to end. We wait until he comes outside, then we take him out surgically. Alive. He's no good to us dead."

"Not that I don't see the wisdom of what you're suggesting," Nadia said, "but what if Ali has a lookout? They phone Ali, we lose the element of surprise, assuming he's even in there."

"If he isn't there, we've got a lot bigger problems," Jack said. "This is the only way we can play this."

Sydney would have argued, butthen an unexpected voice popped up. "I could go inside," Kate suggested. "I could wear a hijab, hide my face."

The three agents shared a look. "How's that strike you?" Nadia said.

"Isn't there a risk involved?" Sydney argued.

Jack almost shot her a glance. Bristow had been the one to bring her here—she was worried about her now? "What risk?' Jack said. "She saw Ali, there's no way he could recognize her. Haven't you seen how much a hijab covers up? "

Sydney almost told him that she'd even worn one a few dozen times. She couldn't argue. "You sure you're up to this?" she asked Kate.

"I can," she said. "I want to help."

Jack nodded sharply, his conclusion made. "Get the schematics of the floor plan," he ordered a man standing nearby. "And get her prepped."

_Here's another person sticking her head in a noose_ Sydney thought. _What is it about us that inspires such devotion? Especially since all we bring is death._

**6:14:18/6:14:19/6:14:20/6:14:21**

Chapelle walked over to Dixon. "How are things proceeding in Chatsworth?" he demanded.

"The woman that was being tortured at the same place as Sydney and Jack, thinks that she can identify Sayed Ali," Dixon said. "She's being prepped to go in to the mosque now."

Chapelle frowned. "Bauer's sending in a civilian into an area that could be hostile?" he said disapprovingly. "Someone who's just been tortured?

"From what I understand, it was her idea," Dixon pointed out. "Furthermore, since we have no definitive link that Ali was involved in what happened in Bakersfield, she's also the only person who _can _identify Ali. I don't think there's any other way to play this."

"No, I guess not" Chapelle was about to turn away.

"Ryan, can you confirm something for me?" Dixon asked. "I've justheard that Roger Stanton has been removed as NSA by the President."

Dixon wasn't sure but he thought that Chapelle's complexion darkened when he heard this. "Where did you hear that?' he demanded. "Is Sloane talking out of school?"

"First of all, I don't trust anything Sloane says," Dixon said. "Second, what difference does it make who said it? We're supposed to be take orders from NSA, and if they're having troubles at the head of the chain of command, don't you think that concerns us a _little?_"

"Our job isn't to worry about who's giving us orders," Chapelle definitely sounded angry now. "Our job is to deal with the crisis at hand. Which means we find Ali and stop the nuke. And, frankly I'm getting a little tired of telling you to stop shifting your focus."

That touched a nerve. "I'm sorry, Ryan," Dixon said angrily. "I was under the strange impression that whatever affects the top of the chain of command might become our concern if it screws us over down the line."

For a moment, Dixon thought he might have pushed Chapelle too far. An expression of venom briefly flashed on his face before it was replaced by a neutral look. "I believe that it is in the best interest of everybody that we just go back to work," he said tightly. "Let me know when Bauer and Bristow are ready to go into the mosque."

Before Marcus could say anything else, Chapelle walked away.

Dixon knew Chapelle well enough to know that he was _**b**_asically a rigid, tow-the-line type. This irrationally aggressive attitude was out of character for him. It could be that he was simply being squeezed by people like Hammond and Alberta Green, and Dixon had simply pushed the wrong buttons at a bad time. But he also knew that Chapelle had ice water in his veins, and those kinds of power plays didn't bug him. Was something else going on above Ryan's head?

For the first time, Dixon began to consider if someone in the CTU hierarchy might not want this bomb to be found.

**6:19:56/6:19:57/6:19:58**

They had gotten Kate outfitted. Jack and Nadia were going over the floor plan with her.

"This is where the men pray, in front closest to the entrance," Jack pointed to the hall. "You're going to walk past that, down this corridor, over to the area where the women pray in the back. You're only going to get one shot at this; once you pass them, their backs will be to you so be sure that you get a clean shot of the room. If you spot Ali, I want you to past the women's prayer area, through this hallway to this fire exit here." He pointed to the spot on the schematic. "Our people will be outside in the alley."

"A good plan," Nadia said. "I think it would work better if I did it."

Jack paused, then looked at her, "You've never seen Sayed Ali. Just what do you think you're doing?"

Nadia smiled, raising what looked like a button, only with a small black dot in the center. "I just found something that Marshall gave me in a kit before coming out here. A buttonhole camera that will broadcast clearly up to here." She smiled. "As he said, the quality could be used to film Star Wars in IMAX."

Syd smiled slightly. "Sounds like him."

Jack thought it over. "And your coloring is better." He glanced at Kate Warner's wide, bright blue eyes. "You have a screen set up?"

"All ready."

Jack nodded. "Good, let's go."

As Jack and Syd watched Nadia move through the Mosque, he said, "Kate isn't you."

Her eyes flickered to Jack a moment, torn between him and her concern for her sister. "What do you mean?"

"Your concern that she learn the truth…" he replied in a voice that was low, and calm, and almost concerned. "She would have found out sooner or later, if only from her father, who works with CIA. It wasn't necessary to bring her out here."

Bristow cleared her throat. "So? If you think my history with Sloane and traitors has—"

"Bristow," he said—not to cut her off, but just in a way of framing the next line. "Jack Bristow. He used to work for the CIA, dropped off the map a few years ago. Never met him, but the word 'coldhearted' is possibly the kindest word I'd ever heard about him. I know what happened with his wife, a KGB mole." He smiled sadly, giving her a brief glance—Nadia was almost outside—"I have some experience with that."

"Your father was also…cold?"

Before he could answer, Kate called out, "It's him! That's Sayed Ali!"

**6:25:26/6:25:27/6:25:28/6:25:29**

Michelle walked over to Vaughn. "Kate Warner identified Ali. We're going over with Jack how to…."

She trailed off, as she got a good look at Vaughn. His face had gotten a lot paler and his throat was constricted. "Michael?" she asked. "Michael, what's wrong?"

Vaughn didn't respond. She was about to speak again, when he spoke. "I just got a call from a security guard at Warner Enterprises," he said slowly. "Richardson… Reza Nayer… are dead, and Weiss in a coma."

Michelle was as shocked as Vaughn was. "What--- what happened?" she managed to say

"They… they were all shot about twenty minutes ago," Vaughn said slowly. "A janitor found the bodies and called 911."

"Do you have any idea who did this?" Michelle asked. She was calming down; Vaughn seemed to be getting worse.

"They're going over the security tapes now," Vaughn began to walk slowly to the back of CTU.

"Michael, are you going to be all right?" The moment she said it, Michelle knew that she had just said something incredibly stupid.

"Well, my best friend at the agency, a man who I basically talked into joining APO, is very close to dying," Vaughn said. "So no, I am not all right." Vaughn continued his walk to the back. "I know we're in the middle of a crisis, and that you're going to need my help, but I can just pretend this hasn't happened. I'll be all right in a few minutes, but I'm going to need it to try and convince myself he'll be fine. I realize this may inconvenience you or Mason or somebody, but right now I don't care. So, excuse me."

Michelle knew better than to say anything. She had experienced her own moment of emotional overload a few hours earlier, and knew that right now Vaughn needed some space or he'd be useless the rest of the day.

So she walked back to Tony and Sloane. "Did you hear what happened at Warner Enterprises?" she asked

"It's worse than that," Tony said bluntly.

"Why? What else happened?"

"I talked with Richardson about an hour ago," Tony said. "He said that Marie Warner had just shown up wanting to talk with Reza."

"What?" Michelle said, stunned.

"According to the surveillance footage, she was the only person to leave the building in the past half-hour." Tony picked up the phone. "I'm going to call Jack."

Jack and Nadia were now back on the other side of the street, going over final preparations with the rest of the men.

"I want your teams to cover the two back exits," he told Sydney over the radio. Then he turned to the rest of the men. "Here's what we're looking for: a Middle Eastern man, late thirties, black shirt, silver buttons down the side, black pants." He looked at Kate. "Miss Warner and I will be going across the street, watching the main entrance. As soon as the prayer service is over and the crowd starts to leave, she'll identify Ali. I will relay his position to Agent Bristow; she will give the 'go' order."

"No one moves until I give the order. The last thing we want is for Ali to run," Nadia told the agents"If he does, shoot to wound only."

Jack looked at his watch. "We have sixteen minutes until the prayer service is over. Is anyone unclear on what has to happen? We cannot afford a mistake."

With that, the teams dispersed. The ones under Sydney's command headed towards the back. The ones under Nadia's headed towards the perimeter of the building. Jack and Kate began walking back towards the fence that overlooked the street, the rest of the team heading behind him.

When they got into position Jack handed Kate a pair of high-vision binoculars. "You control the focus with these," he said as he handed them to Kate. She took them silently and focused them on the front exit.

**6:31:33/6:31:34/6:31:35**

Sydney's phone rang. _Now what? _"Bristow."

"Sydney, it's Sloane." Her boss' voice seemed grimmer than usual.

Sydney practically rolled her eyes. "Look, we're about five minutes away from grabbing Ali," she said in a hostile tone, "so if this is more protocol crap---"

"Sydney, Weiss is in a coma," Sloane's voice was about as gentle as she thought he could make it.

For an instant Sydney thought she'd heard wrong. Then she regained reason. Sloane did not make mistakes. "What--- what happened?"

"He was shot, along with Richardson and Reza Nayer. They're dead. Weiss took a bullet in the chest. His condition is critical."

Sydney felt that she had just been gut-shot. How could the man, who had taken her in after she had reappeared in Japan after being gone for two years, whose birthday party she had attended barely a month ago----

_No, goddamn it, _she thought_. I can't think like this. We're in the middle of a crisis. If I start falling apart, I'm not going to be use to anyone. Not Nadia, not Bauer. I have to hold it together._

The mental rant had helped her regain some of her clarity. "Who shot him?" she asked in what was a mostly level tone.

"Intel suggests that it was Marie Warner."

That was enough to knock her silent again. "Marie… are they sure?"

"There's no room for doubt." Sloane paused. "Sydney, I think that we have to consider that Kate Warner's story might be a fabrication and that she's there to place misinformation."

As much as Sydney didn't want to accept this, she knew that this was a game that agencies like the Covenant played. There was a legitimate possibility that they were walking into a trap. She had to think this through.

"If that's true, Kate Warner's is a better actress than Meryl Streep," she said. "They really did a number on her before we were rescued."

"Other agencies are capable of manipulations like this," Sloane pointed out.

_Including you,_ Sydney thought but did not say. "Well, even if this is true, we don't have much of a choice at this point," she reminded Sloane. "This is our only lead on Ali, which means it our only chance of finding the nuke. We have to play this out, whatever it is."

"I suppose you're right," Sloane paused awkwardly. "Do you think that I should tell Nadia or do you think she'd prefer to hear it from you?"

_Hell of a time to be worried about common courtesy. _"I don't think she's going to like hearing about this, no matter who tells her," she said sadly. "But I'd better."

"How long until the prayer service ends?" Sloaneasked, in his normal tone.

Sydney looked at her watch. "Less than ten minutes," she said quietly. "I'll call you back when we have Ali."

"All right. And Sydney," Sloane tried to put compassion in his voice, "I am sorry about Eric."

And this Sydney couldn't let go. "Why?" she asked. "The worst thing that can happen is that you've lost an agent under your command. God knows, you've lost plenty of them."

She terminated the call before Sloane could say anything else.

Then she forced her attention back on watching the back door of the mosque, after saying a prayer for Eric Weiss.

**6:37:30/6:37:31/6:37:32/6:37:33**

Vaughn knew that this probably wasn't a good idea. If Mason or Sloane heard about this, they might seriously consider pulling him from the detail, manpower shortage or not. But they needed to get some answers, and Bob Warner might be the only one that could provide them.

Making sure that both his hand and voice were level, he went into interrogation room 7.

Bob Warner stood up as the door opened. "What the hell is going on?" Warner demanded. "Where are my daughters?

This was never easy. "Mr. Warner, Kate is fine," Vaughn started.

"Then what is she doing with your agents?"

This was a question Vaughn had no intention of answering. There were more important things to deal with. "Reza Nayer is dead," he said slowly. "So is one of the agents who was with him. Another---" he swallowed, "another agent was shot, he is in very bad shape."

Bob Warner's face fell. He took several deep breaths before he spoke again. "What about Marie?" he asked. "Is she all right?"

"Look, there's no easy way to tell you this, so I'll be blunt." He took about a manila folder."We believe that Marie shot them."

A look of shock --- that Vaughn had seen far too often---- appeared on Warner's face. "This is a trick," he said. "You're trying to trick me!"

"The reason I didn't come and tell you this before," Vaughn said as he walked over to the table, "is because I was waiting for these." He took out a folder which had surveillance footage of Marie Warner with a gun. "These pictures were taken less than half an hour ago."

As Warner looked at the photos, he slowly sat back down. Vaughn was almost positive that Bob Warner didn't know anything about Marie's involvement in what was happening today. Unfortunately, almost wasn't going to cut it anymore.

"Mr. Warner, I realize that this must he a huge blow, but---"

Warner scowled at him. "You have no idea what I'm going through!"

Suddenly, Vaughn thought of another way to play this. "Actually, I do," he said slowly. He walked closer to Mr. Warner. "A year ago, I was married. I loved this woman --- or I thought I did--- and that love blinded me. It kept me from seeing her betrayals, from seeing the fact that she was a traitor and a murderer, willing to do whatever it took to accomplish her goals, no matter how heinous they were. I didn't see the signs, and in retrospect, there were a lot of them."

Warner seemed to have regained some of his composure. "What does that have to do with me?" he asked neutrally.

"I believe that the organization that recruited my wife is the same as the one that recruited your daughter," Vaughn said. "Which leads me to believe that there was something, either at your office or your home, that is critical to this plan involving the nuke. I realize that I'm asking a lot, but do you think that there could be something on your hard drive that might be relevant?"

Warner looked at Vaughn. "You really think that's possible?" he asked.

"These groups don't make these choices randomly," Vaughn said. "They went after your daughter for the same reason they went after my wife; you have something they want."

"They used my company to get this bomb into the country," Warner said. "Don't you think that's enough?"

"With these groups there's no such thing as 'enough'," Vaughn said sadly. "Mr. Warner, our tech guys been having some trouble going through your hard drive because of the fail-safes. Do you know of any codes that might make the job easier?"

Warner thought for several seconds. "There's a key-code combination that's supposed to recover information that's passed through over the last twenty-four hours. "

"What is it?"

"F1-enter- C4Q86/F10."

Vaughn wrote this down. "We'll see if this works." He got up and headed toward the door.

"That's the only reason they picked my daughter?" Bob Warner asked sadly. "Because I had something they need?"

"They don't always need a reason," Vaughn said. "Most of the time, you're better off not knowing."

**6:44:55/6:44:56/6:44:57**

At last, the door to the mosque opened. Jack got on the radio. "All right, we have movement." He said. "Everybody get ready." He turned to Kate. "Just tell me when you see him."

The crowd began to disperse. Kate looked through it. "Not yet. Wait—" she said, "it might be that man there, " She pointed where a cluster of men were standing. "The one behind those three men. I--- I can't see his face."

"Take your time." Jack tried to keep his tone as level as possible.

The cluster dispersed. "No, that's not him," she finally said.

The crowd began to get thinner. "I don't see him." Kate was starting to sound alarmed. "I don't see him!"

"He's got to be there, Kate. Maybe in the crowd."

Suddenly, a man in a kofi was at the door. "There's the greeter. He's the last one out!" Kate was getting upset.

"What the hell?" Jack got on the horn with Sydney. "Is there any movement near the back exits?" he yelled.

"Negative. Nothing at all," Sydney responded.

Jack turned and looked at Kate, Tony's suspicion now seeming more relevant. "Kate, you would tell me if you saw him, wouldn't you?"

Kate looked shocked. "Of course I would," she said angrily. "Why would you even say such a thing?" Jack kept looking. "You do believe me, don't you?"

"I do, just calm down," Jack was thinking furiously. He got on the radio again. "Nadia, how closely did your team examine the buildings around you?"

"We did a sweep of the place. It was empty." Nadia's voice grew suspicious. "He hasn't left the mosque, has he?"

"No, he must have had some kind of lookout." Jack shook his head. "We can't worry about this now. He must still be inside. Sydney, give the word to go; we have to take the building right now."

Suddenly the street was alive with men with rifles and helmets. A police car pulled out in front of the building.

Sydney got to the front door first. "We have a warrant from the government to search this mosque!" Sydney said. "Let us proceed!"

They had gotten inside when a man in a white robe and turban appeared in front of them. "I am the imam of this mosque! What is the meaning of this intrusion?"

By now, Jack had gotten to the door. "Sir, we are federal agents. Less than half an hour we received confirmation that a known terrorist was inside these premises. Show him the warrant!" he told Sydney.

As Sydney handed the imam the warrant, there was a loud noise coming from within the building. It sounded a lot like an explosion.

"Shit!" Jack shoved Kate Warner aside and rushed into the building, taking out his gun as he ran. "Stay back!" he cautioned.

Sydney and Kate moved rapidly towards the back rooms of the building. There they saw something they did not want to see--- a human figure, set ablaze.

"Fuck!" Sydney yelled and grabbed a nearby extinguisher. Jack grabbed a nearby blanket. Sydney cooled the blaze enough so that Jack could smother the figure with the blanket.

When the blaze was out, Sydney looked at the body. "Clothes match the description."

"Any signs of life?" Jack asked.

"Don't bother," Sydney slammed her hand against the wall. "How the hell did he make us?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "Maybe someone in the Covenant knew we were coming and got a message to him."

Sydney was checking the body, looking for anything that might give them some kind of clue, when suddenly she froze. "Wait a minute," she said. "How sure are we this is _**S**_ayed Ali?"

Jack put his phone down. "What do you…" He trailed off as he saw what Sydney had. The pants on this body were three inches too short.

"These clothes don't belong to this man," Sydney got on the radio yet again. "Nadia, maintain the perimeter and secure the exits! Ali is still in the building!"

**6:52:05/6:52:06/6:52:07/6:52:08**

To say that George Mason was pissed off was to undervalue the words 'pissed off'.

"We had the entire three blocks cordoned off!" he shouted into the phone. "How the hell could Ali have made us?"

'I don't know, George!" Jack said. "And frankly, right now, I'm less concerned with why it happened then where Ali is right now."

"I'm going over the schematics of the building," Marshall said as his fingers flew over the keys. "According to them, the only ways out are the ones we're already guarding."

"Really not what I need to hear, Marshall," Mason said. "Unless Sayed Ali ascended into heaven, he has to be in there somewhere!"

"Mr. Mason, I may have found something." Nadia's voice came out of the speaker.

"Talk to me, Santos," he ordered.

"My team just finished doing a sweep of the building right across from the mosque," Nadia said. "On the roof we found a laptop with a video feed."

"Any human beings?" Mason asked.

"Does a dead security guard count?"

"Is there anyway that Ali could have used this?"

"If he had, I think the corpse that we found in the mosque really would be his," Nadia pointed out.

"But someone could have used it to see us coming," Mason argued.

"Well, whoever it is, they're operating less than half an hour ahead of us."

Mason nodded. "All right. Get back over to the mosque. See if we can pin the bastard down."

Sydney pulled back the rug, revealing the trap door. "It's not on any of the schematics Marshall could find for the building," she told Jack.

She and another agent pulled the door outward. There was a small, well-designed passageway stretching under the building. Bauer looked at it. "I'm going in, and I'm going in alone," he said.

"How many times do we have to talk about the same thing?" Sydney asked.

"Ali can't see us coming. We have to make the assumption that he's prepared to kill himself rather than be taken prisoner. We crowd him, we give him an advantage. This has to be done one on-one."

Sydney couldn't argue with this. "All right." she said reluctantly.

Jack looked at a member of the SWAT team. "Give me your baton," he instructed.

After taking it, Bauer climbed down the ladder. He moved slowly and quietly down the passageway, using his flashlight sporadically, just enough to see ahead of him. He didn't want to give his position away.

He turned a corner in the tunnel, and felt a gun at his head. Jack was about to put his hands up, when the sound of another gun cocking came from his left.

"Who are you?"

Jack spun around, stepping away from the gun at his back. He could have disarmed that one, but without knowing who the other gunman was, that would have been an untenable position.

He saw, to his astonishment, two men with the same exact face.

"What devilry is this?" asked the newcomer…who looked like Sayed Ali from the video Nadia shot, and Kate Warner had identified.

"Calm yourself, Sayed," said the one who had held Bauer at gunpoint. "I am a decoy, here to lead our enemy's astray."

"I do not need such cowardly methods," Ali growled. "I am willing to die for the cause."

The other Ali nodded. "I know this is so. In which case, maybe you—"

He spun low, into a crouch, and Sayed would have been too slow to adjust his aim in time. Jack, however, had the expandable baton whipping up from the ground, the tip traveling almost from his ankles to the gun, knocking it up and to the side. A single bullet discharged, just grazing Sayed Ali. The terrorist, however, shot him twice in the head.

The second bullet had barely ejected when the baton came back down in an arc, shattering his wrist. Jack collapsed the baton and jammed it into Ali's mouth like a bit into a horse's jaw.

"I've got him!" Bauer called out over the radio. "Get down here now!"

They climbed the ladder and moved down the passageway quickly; the SWAT team first, Sydney bringing up the rear with Kate Warner in tow. They had gone less than a hundred yards when they found Bauer with a chokehold on an Arabic man.

"That's him!" Kate screamed angrily. "That's Sayed Ali!"

"Get her out of here!" Jack yelled, never loosening his grip. He hit Ali in the face several times before he got the desired result--- one of his teeth was knocked out of his mouth.

A hollow tooth.

"I've got the cyanide!" Jack shouted. The rest of the SWAT team took this opportunity to begin beating the shit out of Ali. "Get him prepped!" Then he picked up something Ali had been holding---- a cell phone. "Sydney!" he yelled, tossing him the phone. "Find out who he was talking to!"

Sydney nodded. "I need a room prepared."

"By the way," Jack said, straightening. "That's Sayed Ali, but who's this?"

Sydney blinked, then looked over at the corpse, which Ali's face and build. "Oh shit."

"One of yours, I take it?"

Sydney nodded, having a bad feeling of nostalgia.

"Bristow, what kind of people do you deal with?"

She sighed. "Agent Bauer, have you ever heard of the Helix Project?"

**6:59:57/6:59:58/6:59:59/7:00:00**


	12. 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

**Chapter 12**

**The Following Takes Place Between 7:00 P.M. AND 8:00 P.M.**

Jack Bauer studied Sydney Bristow for a moment before glancing back to the SWAT team. He took his arm and nudged her away as he ordered the SWAT guys, "Send everything back to CTU for analysis."

He lengthened his stride until he could walk with her side-by-side. "Now, what the fuck is a Helix Project?"

"Creating a double," she answered without pause. "Taking someone's DNA and physical appearance and overlaying it on someone else."

He sighed. "An evil twin program? Christ, now I'm on a soap opera."

Sydney gave an involuntary laugh. Using the words "soap opera" to describe the turning windmills of her life was like saying that Hiroshima was a warning shot. She cleared her throat. "Sorry. Listen, we may not even have the real Sayed Ali. He may still be out there, or he might be the one dead on the ground. And trust me when I say that no Helix double has ever been used for simple decoy work, and they're usually a lot more trouble than this."

Jack frowned, thinking back to the exchange right before one Ali shot the other. "Trust me when I say I'm certain that we have Ali."

"Agent Bauer…Jack…we can't be certain we're not wasting our time. There's a test for a double involving an eye exam."

"How long does it take?"

She frowned. "A few hours. But we can be certain of who he is, _then_ interrogate him. We can't afford—"

Jack held up a hand and smiled wryly. "Sydney…for once today, trust that I know what I'm doing. Now, start sending that data to CTU. I have a feeling we'll need it."

"All right, let me know if she finds anything," Vaughn looked around to see that the entire unit was moving to the center. "Look, I have to go, I think this could be it." He hung up and turned his attention to Mason.

"All right, everybody," Mason said quickly. "Sayed Ali is in custody. Now, this man has spent a long time planning for today. I think it's a safe assumption that breaking him will not be easy. We must therefore utilize every other lead we have now." He turned to his right. "Michelle."

Michelle took out a PDA. "This is a computerized scan of a document we found on a man wearing Ali's clothing. It has been badly burned. As you can see, the clearest segment is the section in the corner. Looks like a 6 or an 8."

Marshall spoke up. "Um, Michelle, I know that I don't really work here, and, by the way, you guys have been really great about this, I mean talk about inter-agency cooperation…."

"Marshall," Sloane said briskly.

"I have access to some of the best forensic software in the world," Marshall said simply. "I have a program that will allow me to virtually rebuild the burnt section of that document."

Mason turned to Marshall. "How long will it take until you can make that document legible?"

"Once I have access to the software, less than an hour."

"Then get started." Michelle handed the PDA over to Marshall.

Mason turned to the others. "Sydney managed to obtain Ali's cell phone. As you'd expect, a lot of the numbers are encrypted."

"Um, Mr. Mason, I realize that I may be out of place here---"

This time Mason interrupted. "My god, you are versatile," he said slowly. "However, I'm going to have to insist that you focus all your energy on rendering that document. It's probably our best lead to finding the nuke, and we can't afford to have your energy being directed in two places at once."

Marshall understood. "All right then."

Mason turned back to Michelle. "Michelle, work with Nadia and the forensic team at that mosque. Start by figuring out who the last person was that Ali called."

Michelle nodded. "All right, people let's get to it." Mason nodded and everybody went back to work.

Vaughn walked up to Mason. "I've got a tech going over Bob Warner's hard drive right now," he told his superior. "She says she'll have gotten the work done in an hour."

"You trust this woman?" Mason asked.

"We go back a bit. Not on Marshall's level, but she's pretty forceful in her own right."

"Hey, I don't care about her lifestyle; I just don't want this to be a waste of time," Mason said brusquely.

Vaughn suppressed his gut response. "I understand," he said.

Mason was about to head back to his office, when he hesitated. "Your friend, Weiss, any word on him?"

"He's in surgery," Vaughn said. "Doctors say he'll be under the knife at least another three hours. His condition is critical."

Mason nodded. "I hope everything works out for him." Then he turned back to his office, when he was seized with another fit of coughing. It passed, but Vaughn was pretty sure he had seen some blood on the ground. Then he realized why Mason had asked after Eric.

It was because he might never get another chance.

**7:07:25/7:07:26/7:07:27**

Jack had insisted that before they tried to interrogate Ali, they let the SWAT and the other agents 'prep' him. Sydney had no problem with letting the mastermind behind today's events get a richly deserved ass-whipping, but she found just watching made her own bruises ache.

So she decided to give Jack and Ali some space, and would check in on her sister and Kate Warner, who she now realized had a whole new series of questions to ask. Besides, she wanted to check in and see how Weiss was doing.

As it turned out, Nadia was standing with Kate just a few feet away from the entrance to the mosque. This reminded Sydney that she hadn't told Nadia about Weiss' condition--- another conversation that she wasn't looking forward to.

Nadia was just finishing with her conversation with Kate when she got up. "Don't tell me you turned down the opportunity to see Sayed Ali get the crap beaten out of him," she said, only half in jest.

Sydney shrugged. "I don't know," she said honestly. "Maybe I'd feel better watching him getting manhandled if I thought he had anything to do with my getting worked over three hours ago."

"But?" Nadia asked.

"If the Covenant's behind this---- and given all the evidence, I'm pretty sure that they are---- that means Ali's probably not at the top of the food chain," Sydney shook her head. "Which means that the big fish are probably still out there, and we have no idea how to find them."

"You don't think Jack's going to get anything out of Ali," Nadia asked.

"I've been underestimating Bauer's skills all day, so maybe he can get something," Sydney said. "But come on, you know the training that these kinds of people get. Sayed Ali probably got up this morning certain that he was going to be dead before the day was over. If he's mentally prepared for the worst thing that we can do to him, what chance do we have of breaking him?"

Nadia didn't reply. She knew what the odds were. "So, what is this we're doing?" she asked. "An exercise in futility?"

"You know our protocols," Sydney said. "Every avenue has to be completely exhausted before we give it up. Besides, maybe beating the shit out of Ali will make me feel better."

"I didn't think you were that bloodthirsty."

"I'm not." Sydney shrugged again. "Most of the time."

"What did Jack think when you told him about Project Helix?"

"How happy would you be if you were told that the lead suspect in today's plot might be nothing more than a clone?" Sydney asked. "I'm not exactly thrilled about it either."

"There anyway to prove that the man we have really is Sayed Ali?" Nadia asked.

"The only test that ever worked with certainty involved an eye exam and a few hours in a lab," Sydney said. "We don't have time to perform it, and even if we did, there's no way to guarantee the Covenant hasn't found some way around it." Sydney looked at the other room. "We're just gonna have to hope that we have the right one."

Nadia gestured towards Kate. "She didn't sign up for any of this," she said. "Now that's she's done her job, maybe we should send her back to Division to debrief."

This wasn't going to be the most subtle lead in, but… "Unfortunately, there have been some other developments over the past hour," Sydney said. "We need to hold on to her a little longer."

"What? Why?"

Sydney took Nadia off to one side. "There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it," she said bluntly. "Weiss has been shot. He's in the hospital undergoing surgery."

To her credit Nadia managed to maintain a blank expression. Only the quivering of two of her fingers on her right hand revealed her level of disturbance. "Do they know who shot him?" she asked.

"We're getting confirmation on that now," Sydney said. "And you'd probably do better to call Vaughn and get all the details."

"Why?"

"Because, right now, there's a lot of evidence implicating the Warner family," Sydney said. "And I have to ask her," she indicated Kate, "some very important questions without her knowing why."

Nadia seemed to have recovered a little. "She's not a stupid woman," she said. "She'll probably figure it out by question three."

Sydney knew Nadia's was probably right on this, but she was saved saying so, when a SWAT member entered. "Agent Bristow," he asked "Agent Bauer would like your assistance in interrogating Ali."

Sydney and Nadia exchanged glances. "Go," Nadia said. "I'll make the other calls."

Sydney walked in. "Good luck," Nadia said.

**7:16:03/7:16:04/7:16:05/7:16:06**

Ali had been in the custody of the Agency for less than ten minutes, but they'd already given him one hell of an ass-whooping. Yet even though he'd been through a hell of a beatdown, the terrorist looked angrily defiant as Jack Bauer stood over him.

"Listen to me," Bauer whispered. "I know who you are and what you've done." He grabbed Ali's face. "Where is the bomb?"

The terrorist said nothing. Bauer hit him twice in the face. "You're wasting my time!" he yelled. "Where is the bomb?!" Ali just spat at him.

Bauer backed off. "What time is the bomb going to detonate?" he demanded.

"You're the one…. wasting time." Ali seemed eerily calm. "I woke up… today… knowing that I would die."

Bauer leaned back over him. "I can make you die with more pain than you can ever imagine," hegrabbed Ali's thumb and yanked hard.

Ali grimaced but did not shout. "Then I will have that much more pleasure in paradise." he said calmly.

"Jack," Sydney warned. "A moment."

Jack walked over to Sydney, giving Ali the evil eye as he did.

"Don't get me wrong, seeing Ali get beat up has been a high point of my day," Sydney said, "but when you called me in here, I assume it was for more than watching you deal out the pain."

Jack looked at Sydney. "You're convinced that Ali is linked to the Covenant."

"I'm pretty sure they have something to do with today's attack," Sydney countered. "Given the way they handle things, it's possible Ali doesn't even know of their involvement."

Jack clearly didn't want to hear this, but he went on. "Is there anything you know about the Covenant that might give us some leverage over Ali?" he asked her.

"No, but…" Sydney trailed off.

'You have something?" Jack asked.

"Ali believes he's God's instrument on Earth," Sydney said. "Maybe there's a way to convince him that the Almighty had less to do with it then he thinks."

For the first time, Jack looked a little confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Let me interrogate him."

Jack frowned. "You know that men like him don't respond to the presence of women."

"Conventional methods aren't doing much for us, Jack," Sydney said. "Besides, we're already getting nothing from the son of a bitch; I can't do much worse."

Jack looked between Ali and Sydney for a few seconds before speaking. "All right."

Sydney nodded, and walked over to Ali.

"Hello, Sayed," she said quietly. "My name is Sydney. I work with the CIA. But you're a smart man, you know that much."

Ali just glowered at her--- or glared as much as a man who had been beaten up and tied down.

"I know you're not going to talk to me, because I can't possibly have anything in common with you. But I think you'd be surprised, Sayed, at how much we have in common." Sydney looked down at Ali. No reaction.

"You see, both of us, we have the capability to hide in plain sight, to convince the world we don't exist. Like you, I've used a lot of false identities over the years. One of them" Sydney paused "was Julia Thorne."

Sydney thought she had seen one of the muscles on Ali's face twitch, but that in itself meant nothing. She went on anyway. "Perhaps you've heard of it. I used that name when I worked for the Covenant."

This time there was a more perceptible tremor, but like the previous one, it was gone in a flash. Ali was good. She'd have to press him.

"That's right, Sayed, I know about the Covenant. I know their modus operandi, how they use people and spit them out, how they make it seem like their ideas are your own." Sydney got right in their face. "Your friend Mamoud knew about them. In fact, they were the last word that he heard before they slit his throat."

She had hoped to provoke a reaction with this, but Ali's face remained expressionless. Clearly, he had expected that his colleague wouldn't survive the day either.

"Was the bomb your idea or theirs?" she asked, pressing on. "What was this about, Allah or money? See, if this was about God, then all you are is another deluded Arab, caught in the foolish beliefs of a backwards civilization."

Finally, she had elicited a reaction; Ali's face darkened. "However, if you did this for lucre," she pressed "then you're no better than one of those contract killers you find in New York or Moscow. Nothing more than a common murderer. Hell, you're even better than a paid assassin—you work for free.Oh, you'll have a big body count at the end, but really a thug is a thug is a thug."

"Shut up." Ali said, quietly furious.

"Mass murderer, that's all. Doesn't have the same ring as 'divine avenger' or 'holy martyr'," Sydney pressed on. "You have all these great intentions, but when the book is written--- history, not the Koran---- you'll be seen no more as a criminal with dark skin. Another lunatic Arab."

"You know nothing of my mission," Ali said. His anger was more obvious now.

"There is no mission!" Sydney spat at Ali. "You and I, we're pawns in the same game; I just know what my role is!" Sydney hoped no one noticed her wince as she used the line Lauren Reed had used on her. "You've been played, Sayed, and you didn't even get a chance to hear the rules; you really want your role in history to be a Covenant stooge than a messenger of your people?"

For a moment, Sydney thought she might have touched a nerve. Then Ali looked up at her and smiled. "It doesn't matter what you or they or anyone else out there thinks of my mission. Allah will know. Eternity will know. The rest is irrelevant. I'll know the rest when I make it to paradise."

She'd gotten nothing. Worse, all she'd probably managed was to make him feel more confident in his belief.

She walked over to Jack. "I thought I had him on the hook," she said apologetically.

"Do you think there's any kind of appeal that we can make that would make any kind of difference?" Jack asked.

Sydney looked at Ali. "My guess is no."

"I thought as much." Jack looked around. "We're gonna have to try something more drastic."

"He can take physical pain." Sydney pointed out.

"That's not the kind I'm talking about."

Sydney looked at Jack strangely, but before she could ask what he was thinking, Nadia entered the room. "I may have something for us."

Jack and Sydney walked to the back of the room.

"Techs just recovered the last number dialed from Ali's cell," Nadia told them. "It's a 310 area code. Number is 555-2130."

"What did you say that number was?"

Jack and Nadia both turned around--- they had almost forgotten that Kate Warner was still around. "555-2130. Nadia said.

Kate looked stunned. "That's impossible--- that's my sister's cell number," she said.

Sydney now realized Nadia had never updated Kate on what they knew. This wasn't the subtles_**t**_ way to break the news, but still…

Jack looked at Kate, then slowly rubbed his face. "Your sister's fiancée Reza Nayer was shot dead, and two other agents were shot with him._**" **_He paused. "Your sister was with them."

Kate looked a little queasy. "Where is Marie?"

"She's missing" Sydney said

Now Kate was angry. "When were you planning on telling me this?" she asked heatedly.

"As soon as we had confirmation that she pulled the trigger."

Kate was momentarily silenced, then spoke up angrily. "That's ridiculous! How can you even think that?!"

"Because we have videotape evidence," Jack said slowly. "She was the only person seen going _**into**_ or leaving the building in the last ninety minutes."

Kate was sounding really frantic by the end. They had no time for hand-holding, though.

"You really believe that?" Nadia spoke up for the first time.

"Of course I do!" Kate insisted.

"In that case, will you call her on her cell?" Sydney said slowly.

"Yes."

"All right," Jack said. "But if she picks up, you have to keep talking with her until we can trace the call. That's the deal. All right?"

"Fine," Kate said.

"All right."

Bauer and Sydney walked away. "Get the machines ready to trace the call," he told Sydney. "But it's got to look like it's coming from Kate's phone."

"I know the way this works, Jack," Sydney snapped. "You don't have to hold my hand, too.

"Sydney, I know thatWeiss was your friend…" Jack started.

"I have to get on this." Sydney didn't even stop moving as she walked outside, trying not to think about what might--- what probably had--- happened to her friend.

**7:31:11/7:31:12/7:31:13/7:31:14**

"The equipment will make it look like you're calling from your own cell," Sydney said. "Just tell that you're worried because you haven't heard from her in the past few hours. Keep it simple, all right?"

Kate nodded.

Nadia picked up one of the other phones. "We're tapped into the cell provider network," she told them. "Once she's on, we can triangulate her location with fifteen to thirty seconds. Even after she hangs up, we can continue to track her location."

"Then let's quit screwing around," Sydney said.

Jack held the phone up but Kate did not take it. "What if its not her on the other end?" she asked.

"That's what we need to find out," Jack said slowly.

When Kate continued to hesitate, Sydney spoke up "Kate, if we find your sister, we might be able to stop what's happening," she said.

Kate took the phone and began dialing. The other people in the room put on their headsets so they could hear the conversation.

The phone rang twice before it was answered. "Hello?" The reception was clear; even over the cell Nadia could tell it was Marie Warner.

"Hey, Marie," Kate tried to put some false bonhomie in her voice. "I haven't heard from Dad in the past couple of hours. What's going on?"

"Just taking a drive," Marie sounded a lot calmer than her sister. "Clearing my head."

"That's understandable," Kate was beginning to sound a bit more natural. "I'm so sorry, Marie. About everything."

"All right," Marie sounded a bit too calm for someone whose life had been shattered a few hours earlier.

"Wanna meet back at the house? Grab a bite?"

Kate was a good actress, but the people listening could pick up the desperation in her voice.

So could her sister. "They found Reza, didn't they?" Marie said in that same dispassionate tone. "They know what happened?"

Hearing those nine words had the same effect on Kate a bullet in the gut would. She started to tear up. "I don't know," she said, crumpling. "What happened, Marie?"

"You wouldn't understand, Kate."

At that moment, Kate saw the horrid truth before her. "You killed Reza," she said, wanting it not to be so. "You shot those other agents."

"People have to die for things to change."

Now Kate grew defiant. "You're not that person," she said. "You couldn't be. They did something to you, what did they do----"

But she was speaking to no one. Marie Warner had hung up before Kate finished and before the provider could finish tracking the call. Nor was that the only problem.

"We lost it," Nadia said angrily. "She must have destroyed the phone." Then she checked the computer. "Cell provider narrowed it down to within a ten-block section of Silmore."

"All right, contact Silmore PD, get them to shut down that ten block area. Get them Marie Warner's description. Tell them we need her now."

As Nadia started to walk away, Kate was seized by hysteria. "You don't know!" she yelled. "They could be forcing her. You don't know she did it!"

As recently as half an hour ago, Nadia would have been able to calm down Kate, and tell her that he knew how much it hurt when someone you loved had betrayed you, that she could recover from it. But the events of the day were starting to wear on her, and she was having trouble finding the right things to say.

"I'm sorry, Kate," she managed, "but you're not doing yourself any favors by keeping yourself blind."

"She's my sister!" Kate all but squealed.

"That doesn't change what's she's done."

"Mr. Mason!" Marshall shouted as the agent passed by him. "I've got a partial reading on the paper you gave me!"

As George and Michelle came over, he pointed to this screen. "This paper has an irregular pulp pattern, so the last step is take samples and remove the background in order to created CGI algorithm of what the surface of the paper looked like without any of the writing on it. We subtract.. these…images, and Presto!" The computer screen showed a very clear _N34_. "Now there are a couple of more sections on the paper but I'm gonna need a little more time to clear it up."

"All right," Michelle said. "Do we have any idea of the context of that figure?

Marshall shook his head. "The paper was photographed on both sides, but this is the only section with something visible on it."

"All right, good job," George turned to Michelle. "Get anyone we can spare working on this sequence, license plates, locker combination, anything that might apply. " He turned back to Marshall. "You send this to the mosque?"

"It's already there."

**7:39:26/7:39:27/7:39:28**

Sydney walked back in the room. "What does N34 mean?" she demanded.

Not surprisingly, Ali didn't respond. "You screwed up, Sayed!" Sydney said in a low voice. "We're cross-referencing everything in our database to find out what that means. Any minute we'll have Marie Warner in our possession. With or without you, Mr. Ali, we're going to find that bomb."

"In that case, talking to me is already irrelevant" Ali said grimly. "You are wasting your time. I am not afraid to die."

"The only way you're going to die today is if I kill you." Sydney hadn't even noticed Jack reenter the room. His radio was out, but Sydney had no idea who he was talking with. "And believe me there are all kinds of ways to make you suffer."

He lifted the radio. "Patch it through."

Sydney hadn't known what to expect from Jack at this point, but even she was shocked when one of the monitors in the room came on to show two soldiers picking up a screaming young Arab boy and place him next to a terrified woman and an even younger Arab child.

"Those men will kill your family if you don't tell me where the bomb is, Jack said unemotionally.

Sickened as she was by this, Syd couldn't help noticed that Ali's expression had changed for the first time. Disbelief was now present. And was there a touch of fear? Syd thought there was.

"I despise you for making me to this," Jack said grimly. "Those men are waiting for my orders" He looked at Ali. "This is your last chance. Where is the bomb?!"

Ali's face twitched and twisted, but in the end his old defiance reappeared.

**7:43:55/7:43:56/7:43:57/7:43:58**

Now Sydney had no moral compunction about torturing the guilty, and using extreme methods on civilians to extract information didn't bother her. But the idea of killing innocent children--- no matter who their parents were--- was anathema to her. The fact that this was a drastic case, and millions of people would die if they didn't break Ali, did not change that she found the idea repulsive.

She could also tell that was a line that Jack Bauer really didn't want to cross either. The difference, she thought, was that Jack was going to do it regardless. He might not sleep well after doing it (though Sydney had met few people in espionage would _did_ sleep well), but in the end, he was going to do what it took to find the nuke.

Sydney was certain that she didn't want to watch this horrible scene unfold. She also knew that if she left the room rather than witness this, Ali might consider this a victory and his shaky resolve might harden again. So, as disgusted as she was by what was unfolding, she managed to maintain a level face.

"Your wife has been writing you letters every day" Jack told Ali. "She doesn't know where to send them." He walked back to Ali. "Your son Hassan wants to be like you when he grows up." He crouched on the floor. "He turns twelve next week." One of the children shrieked "I don't think he's going to make it."

Ali wasn't looking at Bauer; his eyes had not left the monitors since his family had appeared on them.

"I know what it's like to lose someone," Jack spoke almost gently. "To see them killed right in front of you. I don't want to hurt your family. But if you don't give me the information I need, I will order them to shoot."

When Ali spoke, he sounded uncertain. "I--- I am doing Allah's work."

"No," Jack said firmly. "You're going to kill millions of people. That's what you're doing."

At that moment, Nadia entered the room, holding a cell phone. "Agent Bauer, I have a call for you from the President."

Hearing this, Syd felt a sick relief. The decision was going to be taken out of their hands. President Palmer would not tolerate this sort of action. No President would allow the deaths of innocent children.

Jack took the phone. "This is Bauer." There was a pause. "Sir, Ali was willing to take his own life rather than talk," Jack said patiently. "His only vulnerability is through his family."

Pause. "Sir, the action would take place in his country." Jack remained calm. " It would be a field decision. You would not be involved…I understand, Mr. President."

Jack paused. "I understand this is a difficult decision."

He looked at Ali. "No, I do not think there is another option." Now there was a longer pause. "I know this is a tough choice." Another long pause. "All right, sir. Thank you for your support."

He turned the phone off and looked at Sydney. "He authorized the action."

In a moment of chilling clarity, Sydney realized two things. The President had not authorized anything. And Jack would not let anything stop him from doing what needed to be done.

**7:46:47/7:46:48/7:46:49**

Nadia had been so focused with keeping track of Marie Warner down that she had barely had any time to keep abreast with what was happening in the interrogation of Ali. She therefore had no time process that she had just received a call from the President of the United States, demanding to be put through to Jack Bauer. When she went into the room where they were interrogating Ali, a glance at the monitor plus hearing one side of the conversation, helped her realize what was happening.

It probably wouldn't have surprised Sydney that much that Nadia liked the idea of killing innocents even less than she did. Most of this had to do with her life in foster care, and growing up among other orphans. But the fact was, despite the ruthlessness of both of her parents, Nadia had a compassionate streak, and the deaths of innocents---- any innocents--- appalled her.

Nadia could tell Sydney was going through some interior struggle as well---- which was she was certain that what Sydney did next was not planned in concert with Jack.

"You're a monster," she said slowly to Ali, "and believe me when I tell you I know what they look like, but I can't believe you're bloodthirsty enough to let your own sons die at the expense of your cause."

Ali's face was now contorted with anguish and rage, but he still remained firm. "You won't do it," Ali said. "Your country is not strong enough to kill innocents."

_Like your country is? _Nadia thought but did not say.

"If this bomb goes off, millions of Americans will die," Sydney said. "Back against a wall, and our will is steel."

"You're out of time," Jack said. "Tell us what we want to know or Hassan dies."

Ali looked panicky and unsure, but he remained silent. "Please don't make me do this," Jack almost sounded mournful now. "Ali, I know that you think that what you're doing is right, but it's my job to make sure it doesn't happen. Hassan is just a boy. Please don't make me do this." He crouched over Ali. "Tell me where the bomb is." No reaction. "Tell me where the bomb is!" Jack demanded. Nothing. "Fine!" He raised up the phone. "Kill the boy!" he shouted.

And Ali could only watch as a soldier ten thousand miles away knocked the chair with his son in it down and fired twice. Seeing the terrified looks on his family, Ali's composure finally broke. He gave a couple of sobs.

"Tell me where the bomb is and I'll spare the rest of your family!" Jack was as relentless as before. "Tell me!"

Ali choked back a sob, but all he would say was "I don't know!"

For the first time in a long time, Nadia felt genuinely revolted. She wasn't sure whether it was towards Bauer, who had ordered the death of a child, or Ali, who had let it happen, but she couldn't be in the room anymore. Being as quiet as she could, she left.

The ugliness of the scene got to Sydney as well. She trailed a little behind Nadia. "I'm sorry you had to had to see that," she said honestly.

"We're damned now," Nadia said simply. "You and me and Bauer--- we're all damned forever."

"We did what had to be done" Sydney said.

"That doesn't make us any less doomed."

**7:52:02/7:52:03/7:52:04/7:52:05**

Suddenly Sydney was angry. Not at Jack for ordering the assassination of a young boy, but at Ali for being so brutal a monster that he had allowed this to have to happen at all. All of the frustrations against the Covenant, Sloane, Ali, everything--- it just boiled over.

She walked back into the room. Ali was now openly struggle to free himself from his bonds, but he still wasn't talking. Jack was going to have to play this through to the end---- if Sydney didn't end it first.

"Hassan is dead. Nothing can change that," he said calmly. "But you still have a chance to save Faheem's life. I'm going to give you ten seconds. Tell me where the bomb is."

"Why are you still giving this bastard the chance?" Sydney burst in, raging. "Order the wife and other son killed now!"

Her anger was so blatant even Jack seemed a little shocked. "Sydney, we've talked about this…" he said.

"That's before the dickwad allowed his son to be murdered rather than reveal his cause!" Sydney said angrily. "Think you'll still make it in to paradise, Sayed? Or does the blood of your own son just blend in with that of the millions of infidelsyou plan to murder?"

The bravado was completely gone from Ali's face; he looked ashen despite his dark skin.

"This man wouldn't show any compassion towards his family," Sydney said. "Why should we? Kill them all.""

Jack seemed to get Sydney's plan now. "So be it." Jack yelled into the phone, "Kill Faheen! Now!"

That finally did it. "No! I'll tell you where the bomb is!" Ali shouted.

"Hold it!" Jack yelled in to the phone. The soldiers on the monitors lowered their weapons. "Where is the bomb?!"

"At Norton Air Field!" Even now, Ali spoke grudgingly.

"Why? What's the plan?" Jack demanded.

"We were going to fly over downtown," Ali said. "And detonate it," When Jack just kept looking at him, he added "It is true."

Jack knew very well what a broken man looked like, and he was convinced Ali was close to it. He dialed CTU on his cell. "Get me Mason." Jack demanded.

"What have you got, Jack?" George asked.

"The bomb's at Norton Air Field. " Jack said. "They were going to fly it over the city."

On the other end, Michelle was running the data on her computer. "Norton's a medium sized air-field. They fly cargo all over the city, little commercial aviation." Then she saw what she had been looking for. "Every plane's tail number begins with 'N'. That's probably what we found on the document. It's only a partial, but it narrows the field."

"All right." Mason began to yell orders. "We believe the bomb is at Norton Air Field. We're going to move units Bravo, Alpha, and Echo over their now! Call the FAA, have them ground all flights in or out of Norton!" He turned to Tony. "If they get the bomb in the air, we'll need two F-18's to stop it. We're gonna need some SWAT teams and some bomb units deployed there. So everybody move!"

Ali had been taken out, on his way back to CTU before he was shipped to Guantanamo. They were heading out to Norton Air Field when Sydney tapped Jack on the shoulder.

"Jack, I'm sorry," she said

Jack seemed a little surprisedperiod. "For what?"

"That Ali made you murder his son," Sydney said honestly. "I heard your story before we met this morning; ordering the death of a child, that couldn't have been easy for you."

Jack looked at Sydney for a long moment. Then he spoke--- not to her, but into the radio. "Is the satellite back up?"

"It's been rerouted," said the voice on the other end.

"Run it," Jack said, and walked away.

Sydney looked at the monitor--- which suddenly showed Hassan Ali being untied from the chair and helped up to his feet.

Sydney turned to Jack. "Ali has given us no quarter today," she asked. "Why did you spare his son?"

Jack was silent for so long Sydney thought that she'd pressed too hard.

And he said, almost sadly, "What kind of person do you think I am?" He blinked. "You really thought I would do it?"

Sydney studied Jack, and her gaze was mirrored in his. She had started this day thinking Jack was nothing more than a ruthless burnout who would kill someone as easy as looking their way—maybe easier. He was merciless, he was fickle, a natural born killer, he may have been borderline insane.

And just now, she WANTED Ali's family to die. She wanted the man to suffer. Like how Nadia was suffering, or Eric, like Jack…like herself.

And Bauer, while coming off as exceptionally pissed more often than not, had been in something resembling control all day. He had been the one to keep prevent her from killing Nina. He came up with an elegant solution to breaking Ali.

What the hell was happening to her?

Before Sydney could respond, Jackwalked over to Kate and Nadia. "Kate, we need you to come with us to Norton Air Field," he told the blonde-haired woman.

"Why?" Kate asked, almost in a daze.

"We believe your sister's there. As well as the bomb."

"Kresge has almost tied everything together," Sherry said furiously.

"Sherry. We can't start worrying about this now," Sloane said with his irritating calm.

"And they've had Stanton for nearly two hours. God knows what he's going to say."

"Stanton's like the rest of us. He only knows what he needs to."

"Damn it, Arvin. Things are starting to fall to pieces. I will not take the weight for you if it hits the fan."

Now Sloane grew short. "You'll take what you're going to take. These plans have been in the works too long for you to fly apart when we're on the brink of success."

Sherry grew cold. "Are you going to leave me to take all this?" she said.

"I'm saying that I don't have time to talk with you any longer."

With that Sloane hung up, hit the scrambler device on his phone to erase the message, and went over to resume organizing the bomb squads over to the air field.

**7:59:57/7:59:58/7:59:59/8:00:00**.


	13. 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM

**Chapter 13**

**The Following Takes Place Between 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.**

"How far out are we from Norton? " Nadia asked Sydney.

"According to the map, we'll be there in less than ten minutes," Sydney said, looking at her watch. "If CTU's performing standard procedures, they'll have their assault teams sweeping the ground now."

"Not that will show us much," Nadia said. "These terrorists have done a great job of hiding in plain sight all day. All they have to do is keep it up a little longer."

Sydney hadn't known Nadia to be this gloomy. "Besides the overall problems, is there anything else worrying you?" she asked her half-sister.

"Come on, Syd" Nadia said. "The Covenant's up to their eyeballs in this, regardless of what Sayed Ali says. This means that they're going to have a huge presence at the air field."

"They can't be that obvious," Sydney pointed out. "Not if they want to stay off the radar until this bomb goes off."

"What about the team that shot down your plane?' Nadia countered. "They weren't exactly subtle. You have to figure that they're going to be out in force at the airfield."

"That's another thing I can't figure out," Sydney admitted. "If the Covenant's already involved in this, they wouldn't be sending two separate teams to kill us. Which leads me to believe that they're involved in this for a different reason."

"Any idea why?"

Sydney shook her head. "NSA has been messing with this investigation all day," she pointed out. "They've clearly got some ulterior motive, but I couldn't begin to guess what kind of machinations they're up to. I have enough trouble trying to figure out what the CIA's up to, and most times I come up short," She shook her head. "But right now, we can't worry about that. As Mason might say, we need to focus on finding on what's waiting for us at Norton. My guess it's going to be enough of a headache for all of us."

Chapelle had been doing some crazy things all day, but now Dixon was sure that he had taken complete leave of his senses.

"You want me to go to CTU, in the middle of the operation that may finally secure the nuke, and tell them that we're going to be running things from here?" he said incredulously.

"They're operating from a compromised location," Chapelle pointed out.

"The bombing was nine hours ago," Dixon said angrily. "Nobody at Division had a problem leaving them to their own devices when the walls were literally falling on them; now you think this is a problem?"

"They have intermittent power in some places," Chapelle was now using that instructing-tone that Dixon found repulsive. " Besides, I've heard rumors that George Mason may have been compromised in some fashion. We can't have them making a mistake now that the stakes are so high."

This was the last straw. Dixon got to his feet "Ryan, I have taken shit from you all day about how to do my job," he said slowly,"even though I held a position just like it for a year and a half, and I would never run an operation the way you have." He ignored the color gathering in Chapelle's face and pushed on. "But if you're going to tell me to shut down CTU, because it doesn't fit under your benchmarks of efficiency, I'm going to tell you to blow it out your ass."

Dixon hadn't seen these shades of maroon on a human face before, but despite that, Chapelle's tone was even flatter than before. "I'm going to do you a big favor, Marcus," he said icily. "I'm going to take the last statement you've made as a combination of the stress of the day, and your affection for your colleagues at CTU. I will then say this: if you don't go to CTU, and make sure they're working at a hundred percent, I'm going to make a call to Director Chase, and have your ass fired from the Agency for the grossest insubordination imaginable. Then, before I go through the trouble of seeing making sure that you'll never work at any position higher than a security guard at a 7-11, I'll send someone there who will shut CTU down and scatter all the agents--- including your colleagues--- and scatter them to the four corners of the earth." Chapelle's face was now back to its normal color. "Now you can either stand on principle and accomplish nothing or you can do your job and maybe help your friends, and oh yeah, find the bomb. What's it gonna be?"

Dixon almost smiled. Would it have been a bad time to tell Ryan that he was dating the Director?

**8:07:27/8:07:28/8:07:29**

Jack answered his cell. "This is Bauer."

"There's a new wrinkle, Jack." said George Mason. "How far are you from Norton?"

Jack checked his watch. "Couple of minutes," He lowered his voice so that Kate Warner wouldn't hear. "What sort of wrinkle?"

"The Coral Snake unit that shot down your plane," Mason said grimly. "They're going to be standing between you and the bomb."

"What the hell is going on, George?" Jack demanded. "What is NSA doing helping the terrorists?"

"As far as we know, they're not. Best as we can figure, they want to be the ones who find the bomb so they can be the hero. They're going to regard anyone that comes between them as an adversary. Even better, they went dark three hours ago. We know they'resomewhere at the airport. We're trying to get reinforcements up from Camp Pendleton."

Lowering his voice even more Jack whispered: "This is bad, George."

"Yes it is," George agreed. "Our best bet is you getting past them."

Jack looked at Kate, said "I understand. Thank you," and terminated the call.

"What's happening?" Kate asked.

"I don't know," Jack lied. "CTU still hasn't located your sister. Soon as they do, they'll contact me. I'm sorry, but this will take longer than I thought."

_That's the understatement of the year. _

Nadia shook her head as Sydney finished relaying the information on Coral Snake to her. "What the hell was NSA thinking?" she asked.

"I don't know," admitted Sydney,"but right now, Monday morning quarterbacking is the least of our concerns."

"Do we even know how many soldiers there are?" Sydney shook her head. "So we have to stop people who want this bomb to go off, as well as a unit that doesn't?"

Sydney looked at Nadia. "Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony." At Nadia's strange look, she added,"Sorry, I loved the movie." She grew serious. "Anyway, it's time to stop talking about it," She pointed out the window as their vehicle slowed. "We're here."

Their police escort was already on the airstrip proper, as were nearly a dozen agents. Sydney and Nadia checked their weapons as they got out of the car. Bauer was about fifty feet in front of them with Kate Warner, who swiftly left the field with another agent. As Sydney and Nadia reached them, a tall, black man in a blue vest approached them.

"Curtis Manning, I'm heading up the assault team."

"Do you have any more intel on Coral Snake?" Sydney asked.

"Right here." Manning handed Jack some files. "These are the military records of every man who served under Colonel Samuels command. What's the profile on these people?"

"They know where the bomb is, and they plan to treat us like hostiles," Jack said harshly.

Curtis shook his head. "This makes no sense."

"Welcome to our world, Agent Manning," Nadia said.

"Are your teams ready?" Jack asked.

"Wait a minute," Sydney said. "Where's your weapons arsenal?"

Jack raised a brow. "Why, what do you have in mind?"

"That we don't know how many soldiers Coral Snake has, and we have no idea how large the Covenant presence is," Sydney said. "Every person on this unit should be in Kevlar and carrying heavy artillery."

Curtis looked at Jack. "We don't have that kind of arsenal," he pointed out.

"Then get the best you can," Jack said. "I've seen the weapons our enemy packs; we can't afford to be outgunned." He looked at another agent. "Do you have the blueprint for the airport layout?"

The agent nodded. "Right here."

By now, all four agents had walked inside one of the hangers where a large group of men and soldiers were waiting. "All right, everyone listen up." Jack began. "We are going to be engaging hostiles in a large, uncontrolled area; I want everyone wearing ID tags. No exceptions. Anyone wants to leave, they have to check with me first."

Jack looked at Sydney, who nodded and began to speak. "All right, everyone. There is an armed nuclear weapon somewhere on site. The people behind today's attack are going to have some kind of presence on this field. I can't say how big, but given the stakes, it could be dozens, all armed. We also have an armed delta team, who will also be in search of the bomb. Agent Bauer will fill you in on the break down."

"Unit one is under Agent Bristow's command. They will make the first sweep. Unit two, under Agent Santos, will handle air tactical. Unit three will report directly to me when I have a location on the bomb. Any questions?" There were none. "Agent Bristow, set up your teams."

**8:16:06/8:16:07/8:16:08/8:16:09**

"Tony, we got a little problem."

For a split second, Tony wondered if George was going to say the problem was him. Mentally, he was still up to the job. Physically, Mason literally looked like he was falling apart. He was having a lot of trouble walking, it was clear he was in a lot of pain, and Tony could see blood oozing in patches through his shirt. He didn't look like he should be standing, much less leading a major anti-terrorist activity.

Tony kept all this to himself. "What's up?" he asked.

"I just gotta call from Dixon," George said. "He's on his way over here with a team to make sure we're running efficiently. He also warned me that Chapelle wants him to shut the place down and start running things from Division."

"We're up and running now." Tony said exasperatedly.

"Not at a hundred percent." George admitted. "We're still having intermittent power in some packets. Division is uncomfortable with us running such a big operation from a compromised location."

"Dixon's been a stand-up guy" Tony said. "Even Jack seems to like him, and he didn't like anyone this morning.It's hard to believe he'd be Chapelle's hatchet man."

"The way Dixon put it, he didn't have a choice," Mason said wearily. "He said that what it boiled down to was: either he gave the inspection and they _might_ shut us down, or Chapelle sends someone else, and they _will_ shut us down. I guess this way at least we have a chance of staying in operation."

"We're closing in on this thing, and now we have to go through this shit?" Tony shook his head. "You'd think that this bureaucracy could go on hold, given the circumstances."

"What do you expect?" asked George. "This is Chapelle's way of trying to regulate things. At least with Dixon we have a fighting chance of staying open."

Tony nodded, then broached a subject he had been concerned about for the last four hours. "Does Dixon know about you?"

"How would he know?" Mason asked. "You haven't told him; I haven't told him. " He gave a harsh laugh that sounded like he was about to hack up a lung. "But it's not like I'll be able to hide it much longer."

"What do you think Dixon'll do?" Tony thought he knew the answer but he was too kind to say it.

"He'll apologize; he'll commend me on the fine job I've done today," Mason shrugged,"and then he'll have me replaced."

George tried to say those last words as if he didn't care; it was unfortunately punctuated by another round of coughing. Tony wasn't a doctor, but these coughs sounded a lot deeper and harsher than the ones that had come before.

George knew that, so he changed the subject. "What's going on at Norton?' he asked.

"Sydney and Jack are beginning the search," Tony said, walking over to the monitors.

"Where are we on locating the Coral Snake commandos?"

"Nowhere," Tony said flatly. "Considering what's going to happen when we find them, I'm not sure whether that's a positive or a negative."

"There is no good or bad here, Tony," Mason said grimly. "A lot of people are going to die here. The only good is whether this is where the killing stops."

Tony could've pointed out that the killing was going to resume a few hours after they found this bomb, but he tactfully shut up.

Mainly because he realized for George, it would stop for him by the end of the day.

**8:22:40/8:22:41/8:22:42**

It had been awhile since Sydney had been a team leader for any operation on this scale. She supposed on some level she was appreciative to Jack for the opportunity; right now, she was focused on keeping her team alive.

She stopped at the arsenal and got loaded for a major assault--- flak jacket, helmet, and an M4 carbine. The equipment was a bit heavy for anything short of a war zone, but Sydney feared that was what it would become very rapidly.

She divided her soldiers into three units: the first one would handled the western flank of the base, the second would take the eastern flank, and she would take the lead in the third and head right down the center.

The first thing she did was get on the radio with Marshall. "What have you got on the satellites?" she asked, as she led her team down the field.

"Okay, I've re-tasked the closer one over Norton," Marshall said. "But since much of the base is covered, the satellites are going to be giving minimal help as to seeing these guys. I'm already tasking the infrareds to find heat signatures, but that won't help you tell the good guys from the bad."

This was what Syd had expected to hear, even if she didn't want to. "What about the bystanders? Have we managed to move them into the front hangars?" she asked.

"So far, we're less than halfway through the length of the base," Marshall said grimly. "There could be a large group of hostiles anywhere else."

All of this fell under the category of 'stuff she expected' but Sydney wasn't happy to hear it verified. "All right," she reported. "I'll get back to you."

Just then Curtis, who had been assigned to her team and was walking just to her left, came over to Sydney. "We may have something," he told her.

She walked with Curtis to a location where one of the other agents was kneeling with a luminal stick about twenty feet away from a door. "Military issue combat boots," the agent whispered. "Seven sets, heading this way." He gestured to the east.

With gestures, Sydney began ordering her team into positions--- three on her left, three on her right, her and three other agents right next to her.

Curtis Manning went first, stopping at the door in a crouch, a fiberoptic cable in one hand, and a flatscreen monitor in the other. He slid the camera underneath the door, then groaned.

"At least half a dozen commandos, all armed with M16s of M80s."

Sydney winced. "We come at them with a frontal assault, we'll be cut to pieces." She whisperedinto the radio. "Marshall, do you have the layout of the place in front of you?"

"Roger!"

"Any other entrances to the room?

"Yeah. There's a side door twenty five feet behind you."

"Jack!" she yelled into the radio. "I need you and your team to get to the coordinates Marshall's going to send you! We have found the Coral Snake team! Our best plan of attack is to try and pin them in a box and squeeze them out. Get to the locations, now!"

**8:29:11/8:29:12/8:29:13/8:29:14**

Jack had a feeling that the situation was going to deteriorate very rapidly, and hearing Sydney's voice on the radio confirmed his worst fears.

There was no time to inform Nadia and her team; they were on the other side of the airfield and any more hesitation on his part was only going to get Sydney and her team killed. "Follow me!" he ordered as soon as he got the coordinates from Marshall.

The APO geek had also sent thermal images from a satellite to Jack. The entire building was a disaster waiting to happen. Catwalks, enough metal to hold off an armory of bullets.

There was also a skylight.

Jack had grabbed a couple of flash grenades from the arsenal before he left. Now, he stood back and whispered into his radio: "Hold positions, I'm going to try to climb a drainpipe to the roof."

On the other end of the radio, Mashall said, "Cool, you're going to Sam Fisher your way up there and take them out."

Bauer didn't even bother replying—he was already on his way.

He onlyneeded to climb up about thirty feet, and once on the roof, he crawled along his belly, heading for the skylight. There wasn't any light emanating from the inside, so they were relying totally on either their own night vision, or on night vision goggles.

Bauer smiled at the skylight—it could be opened from the outside. How careless. He grabbed the latch and slowly lifted it, getting a good look inside—guided by Marshall's imaging. All of the men were waiting, steady, armed, with night vision goggles in place. Once he had his primary targets marked in his mind, he slowly drew his silenced pistol and took aim.

"All teams, hold your positions. Go on my mark."

With three quick shots into the darkness, three men from Coral Snake were dead. Jack rolled out of the way as automatic weapons answered his three rounds with dozens within the first second. The skylight disintegrated to powder instantly.

Once Jack was certain that all of the remaining Coral Snake members were focused on him, Bauer tossed over the first flash bang.

Part of the problems with Night Vision Goggles is how they operate. NVGs take all ambient light—even if it's starlight—and used it to amplify and light up the surrounding area.

A flashbang was seven times brighter than the sun.

The surviving Coral Snake members essentially had their retinas burned out of their heads.

Sydney swept into the room with Curtis at her side, only to find blinded men screaming in pain. She shrugged, then looked to Curtis. "Get their weapons."

As Curtis and Jack got the Coral Snake soldiers weapons, Sydney couldn't help but count the bodies

Curtis and Jack had just walked away from the Coral Snake team when suddenly three shots rang out in succession. By the time Jack and Sydney had time to realize what was happening, the shooting was done and the remaining soldiers were lying on the ground.

"Do you see anyone?" Jack yelled.

Sydney shook her head. "Are they dead?" she asked.

Curtis checked the pulse of the one that had fallen closest to them. "Yes," he said grimly.

Sydney ran over to Curtis. "Get the rest of the teams together. Search the perimeter. We need to find this guy before he gets out." As Curtis took off, she looked at the stacks of corpses on the ground. "Goddamn it!" she swore.

**8:35:49/8:35:50/8:35:51**

"This bank was knocked out by an explosion," Tony said as he pointed to it,"but Michelle was able to get it working again without losing any data."

Dixon took all this in, with some sympathy. "Well, that's all well and good, but we've got the same data mirrored at Division," he said reluctantly. "How certain are you that the system you've rigged up will continue to function?"

Michelle maintained her composure. "There are no absolutes in life," she said unwillingly,"but my team has more experience implementing and monitoring than anyone you can find at Division."

"I know that," Dixon said, "and if it were strictly up to me alone, I wouldn't have a problem with you working out of here."

"Marcus, can't you cut us a break?" Tony said. "You know what's been happening here, you know that we're closing in on locating this bomb. Don't you have any wiggle room with Chapelle?"

"'Wiggle room' and 'Chapelle' don't belong in the same sentence," Dixon said. "I've gone to the mat for you guys a lot today, but he's even more impatient with me then he is with you. Now my orders from Chapelle were very clear," he said slowly. "If you're not operating within Division benchmarks for productivity, you have to start shifting personnel."

"What?" said a voice from above. " And waste an hour and a half in transport and set-up with a nuclear bomb ticking away?"

To say Tony was surprised to see Mason downstairs was an understatement. He had been sure, given George's condition, Dixon would replace him the second he saw him. Yet there he was, back in his suit, sounding annoyed and irritated like he usually did.

"Well, I'm glad to see that this unit is still running with someone in charge," Dixon said.

"Good to see you, Marcus," George said slowly.

"George, if I may speak freely, you look like shit," Dixon said. "Have you been holding the building up with your bare hands?"

"Something like that," Mason said with a ghost of a smile. "But you know me; a bad day for me is still better than a good day for anyone Chapelle has over there."

Dixon actually smiled as he shook Mason's hand. "Well, now that you're here, maybe you can sell me that we can keep CTU up and running."

"I don't have to sell you, Marcus, because I'm not shutting this place down," George said calmly. "Bottom line, we have too many active protocols."

"George, your systems failed their parity checks this morning," Dixon pointed out.

"Yeah, well, that was this morning," Mason said, cooler than any cucumber. "We're fine now. Michelle," he said, turning to her, "care to show Marcus that all systems are exceeding their horizons?"

"Yes, sir" Michelle said, coolly.

"They can't do that at Division, can they?" George said. "Don't believe everything you hear."

And with that George walked away.

It was a good thing Dixon had focused his attention on Michelle, because if he'd kept looking at George, he would have seen the man wincing where his hand had been grasped by Marcus, then trudge slowly up the stairs--- definite signs that Mason was not meeting Agency standards. But his focus was on the present. And right now, he saw that CTU was running at such a rate that even Chapelle would find acceptable .

The question was what happened when George couldn't fake it anymore.

**8:40:58/8:40:59/8:41:00/8:41:01**

"They're all dead?" Nadia said over the radio.

"They just waited until we had taken them down, then bang- bang-bang." Sydney shook her head. "Someone has been playing us for fools since this day began. First the sniper at Wald's house, the fake rescue team, then the camera and duplicate of Ali at the mosque, now this."

Nadia had been in espionage awhile but not as long as Sydney or Jack. Therefore, it had taken her a little longer to get where her sister was now. "Sydney, do you think that this means the Covenant has someone inside CTU?" she asked.

"I've been hoping I wouldn't have to answer this question yet," Sydney said. "Right now there are so many government agencies tracking the bomb, that a mole could be in any one of them."

"In other words, we have no idea, " Nadia said.

Curtis ran back over to Sydney. "We've gone through the perimeter," he said. "We've got nothing."

"We don't have any more time to waste looking," Jack said as he walked back toward Syd.

"Three highly gifted soldiers were just killed in front of us, and you're just going to let it go?' Sydney said disbelievingly.

"Finding out who shot the Coral Snake team is a secondary protocol," Jack said. "We need to find this bomb first." He got on the radio with Nadia. "How's the search going?"

"We've been searching all the planes and structures." Nadia said, "There are just too many places it could be."

"Got it!" Marshall yelled, turning to Mason. "It's either _N34G5 _or _N34G6!"_

"Michelle?"

Michelle hurriedly did a search. "_N34G5 _is registered at Norton Air Field and its at Hangar MD7." She said.

"Somebody get on the phone with Jack." Mason ordered.

Jack picked up his cell. "This is Bauer."

"Jack, it's Tony. FAA has a tail number for the plane. N, 3, 4, G as in Golf, 5. It's registered at Hangar MD-7."

"Copy!" Jack turned to Sydney. "Where's Hangar MD-7?" he yelled into the radio.

There was a pause. "It's on the eastern side of the airport," Nadia said. "My team's closer to it."

"Get there on the double. We'll be there to back you up in two minutes."

Jack hung up and ran towards the car.

Nadia's team was less than a quarter of the distance the way from Hangar MD-7. However, as fast as she and her team were, the Covenant was faster. As they drove towards the hangar, they saw the doors opening and the plane starting to taxi down the runway. Furthermore, a small crowd of people emerged from the hangar, all carrying weapons.

"Never ends, does it?" Nadia muttered as she got on the radio. "All teams, they're trying to take off from the north runway! Alpha team 6, 7, take out the squad in front of the hangar! My team is going to try and cut off the plane. "

As Nadia's Humvee drove on the runway, the plane began to accelerate. Simultaneously, a man peeked out the window, and took out an RF Micro and began firing at them.

Nadia knew that she had to cut off the plane before it took off. She also knew that the machine pistol was going to make it that much harder for the driver to get along side them. She knew one other thing--- the average clip of Micro held fifteen rounds.

"Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen!" The second the firing stopped, she stuck her weapon out the window and put two rounds into the shooter.

She ducked back down and grabbed the wheel, pushing it out and away from the plane. The car tacked, almost riding perpendicular to the plane. With a sudden jerk, she yanked back the other way, aiming the car at the plane itself.

The plane was a light, delicate thing in comparison to heavy aircraft, and definitely when compared to the Hummer. The car crashed into the tail of the fiberglass plane with a crunch.

Nadia poked her head up, looking at her men. They were out in an open field of fire, while the Covenant shooters used the nooks and crannies of the hanger as sniping points

"Alpha Team 7, " she shouted. "Pull back to the plane, secure it and the bomb. She looked to her driver. "You have an extra assault rifle?"

Steve Goodrich shrugged. "No, but will an SMG do it?"

"Even better", she smiled. "Swap places and get the fiberoptics ready?

Goodrich nodded and carefully let Nadia switch seats with him. She took the wheel in one hand, and the submachine gun in the other

Goodrich had his assault rifle cradled in one arm, the monitor for the fiberoptic camera in the other. "Now what?"

"Put the camera on the dashboard and drop down."

The hummer gathered sped, and Goodrich swore, following her instructions as she pointed the car straight at the mouth of the hangar.

The automatic weapons blazed at the car, the bullets bouncing off the armored hide of the CTU vehicle. However, both Nadia and Goodrich fired through their own windows, using the camera to look at their targets, without ever needing to expose themselves to danger.

Two opposition shooters died before Nadia even breached the hanger, and four more died as she crossed the threshold, driving behind the defensive positions. The last two died as they tried to run--- only to encounter CTU's Alpha team

Seeing that he couldn't make the skies or steer the plane, the pilot relented and slowly stopped the plane.

At the other end of the runway, Jack and Sydney were waiting. "Step out of the plane and put your hands in the air!" he ordered.

The pilot, an undistinguished looking man with a mustache, reluctantly did so.

While he was doing this, Sydney had reached the plane and was looking in the inside door. There was a black box with a flashing light.

"He's got it in the back of the plane!" she yelled. "Get the bomb squad now!"

**8:49:05/8:49:06/8:49:07/8:49:08**

"Considering that you're almost on top of the threat, and that your systems are all well within Division parameters," Dixon said to Mason "I'm going to clear you until the threat passes. We may have to reevaluate after you get the bomb, but I'll do my best to keep Chapelle off your back."

"I guess we can't ask for mo---" George was suddenly interrupted by another fit of coughing.

"George, you really ought to have that cough looked at," Dixon said concernedly. "You don't sound too good."

"I'll do that," Mason hesitated for a moment. "Marcus, thank you for everything you've done today. What you're doing, it means a lot. To me, and to CTU."

"You'd do the same for me," Dixon said.

"No," George said sadly. "I probably wouldn't. That's why you're a better man than I am."

Dixon wasn't blind. He knew that something was seriously wrong with George. He also knew that by this time tomorrow, he'd no longer be in a position of responsibility about it. Besides, he thought George knew enough that he would know his limitations.

So he said 'Goodbye' to George, and pretended not to notice as Mason loosened his collar and started trudging upstairs again.

Unfortunately, there were other, less compassionate eyes watching Mason walk up the stairs.

"Marcus, a moment of your time."

Dixon had gone out of his way to avoid dealing with Sloane since he had been sent back here. He guessed his luck had run out. "What is it, Sloane?" he asked as his current superior walked up to him.

"George put up a magnificent show for you, but that doesn't change the fact that he looks very green about the gills."

So much for Dixon's hope that Sloane would have been distracted by doing his job to ignore the obvious. "He looked fine to me," he lied.

"Come on, Marcus, you can't have been blind enough to not notice that he was bleeding out of his suit. Loyalty is a characteristic that I admire greatly." he said slowly. "But in a crisis like the day, it is important that we operate at peak efficiency. George can not do the job for much longer, and people like us, we have to be concerned with this bomb."

_What the hell. An opportunity like this comes only once in a great while._ "I'm going to say this once," Dixon began. "You're not my superior here. As a matter of fact, right now, I outrank you. So I'm going let this little act of insubordination pass, and tell you that if George says he can do the job and if I say he can, hell remain in charge." He whirled around. "And I'd just like to say that you talking about loyalty is the funniest thing I've heard all day."

"I realize you hate me," Sloane said sadly,"and that hatred can sometime cloud your judgment, but Marcus, you can't let your prejudices blind you to the simple fact that something's wrong with George Mason. And if we have a problem with the chain of command, you will be held responsible."

Dixon just fixed Sloane with a stare. "You do your job; I've done mine," he said icily.

With that Dixon walked away, trying to ignore that Sloane might be right.

**8:55:26/8:55:27/8:55:28**

"Try this wire."

The technician tested the wire, then shook his head. "It's no good." He said to Sydney and Jack. "The trigger's been set to permanent default."

He got to his feet. "Why are you stopping?" Sydney demanded.

"The modifications they've made on this device have wiped the memory card."

"Can you disarm it?" asked Jack.

Jack got on his walkie-talkie. "Team A, I'm going to need you to start clear the north runway.."

"What are you thinking?" asked Syd, even though she had a good idea.

"If they can't defuse this bomb, I need to get it as far from Los Angeles as fast as possible."

Sydney was about to tell Jack how crazy he was, when suddenly knobs on the bomb began flashing and a beeping started emanating from it. "What the hell's happening?" asked Sydney.

"They must have an expedite command on a remote device." The technician bent back over the bomb. As the beeping got faster, the technician started fumbling around the device.

"Don't touch that!" his assistant said. "It'll detonate!"

The technician ignored it and yanked a small black box out from the center of the device. As he did, the flashing and the beeping stopped.

"What just happened?" demanded Jack.

"Nothing." The technician held up the square. "This isn't the bomb."

"What about the radiation readings?" Sydney said.

"From here." He held up the box. "Must have been plutonium residue. There was a bomb here, but it's gone now."

Sydney got on the radio. "Nadia, I need you to bring the pilot and any survivors of the second assault over to Hangar MD-7 now! We don't have the bomb, and we need to talk with anybody here who knows what the fuck happened." She got off the radio. "Goddamnit!"

"They found the decoy,"

"Do they have any idea where the real bomb is?"

"No, but they'll be interrogating everybody on this base until they do."

"You only need to hold them off a little longer." There was a pause. "Has the military team been eliminated?"

"All except one. I'm scheduled to meet him in an hour and a half."

"We're on a timetable. Don't upset it, Derevko."

"I won't, _Trepkos."_

**8:59:57/8:59:58/8:59:59/9:00:00**


	14. 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM

**Chapter 14**

**The Following Takes Place Between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM**

Jack had ordered all three teams to get everything from the plane into the hangar. As they prepared an improvised interrogation room, he was now talking faster than ever, as if a second wasted on talking might doom them--- which for all they knew, it might.

"You're going to have to process all the prints here," he told the lab techs. "We don't have any mobile units and we don't have time to send anything back." Jack didn't even wait until the pilot of the decoy had been sat down before beginning his interrogation

"You," he said as they forced him into the chair "where's the real bomb? Where is the real bomb?!"

The pilot didn't answer them; whether out of ignorance or fanaticism, Jack couldn't guess. "Do you speak any English?" he demanded. No answer. "Do you speak any English?!" He turned to Sydney before the pilot finished shaking his head. "Start interrogating him. See if he's more talkative in Arabic."

Sydney nodded. "Where are we on the other people who were guarding the decoy?" she asked.

"We found no other survivors," Jack said grimly.

"Which doesn't mean there weren't any," Sydney pointed out. "The Covenant obviously has a larger force here than we thought; I don't believe for a second we killed all of them."

"Work on the pilot, I'll see what I can get from CTU."

Jack walked away, taking out his phone.

_Your hair will start to fall out in clumps, _George Mason heard the phantom paramedic say. That would be the first sign that his asymptomatic period was almost over. Of course, he'd been feeling pretty crappy for the last four or five hours, but now, as he looked at the hair that had come out as he had casually brushed his hand over his head, he now knew that he was going to go downhill pretty quickly. He had hoped to see the threat over before he left, but it was looking a lot like that wasn't going to happen.

"Mr. Mason, I finally have Jack Bauer on line two," came a voice from below. Was her name Diane? Deanna? George couldn't remember. His thinking was starting to get hazy too.

With a tremendous force of will, he shoved the pain aside. "Put him through," he said. "Jack where are we?"

"Still no sign of the nuke."

George pulled himself up. "What about the plane?"

"It's been swept clean." There was a certain amount of exhaustion in Jack's voice also, but George knew _he'd _get over it. "I need you to use reverse real time telemetry on the satellites. Trace the plane back to its original location. That's where they would have taken the bomb off the plane."

George only faintly heard that last part. He had swallowed some more of his anti-nausea medication and he was sure he could feel the pill traveling down his battered intestinal tract. The blood had also started to ooze onto his sleeves and he was starting to have trouble focusing.

"George? Are you there?" Jack's voice seemed to be coming from a hundred miles away. "George? Are you alright?"

Using an effort he didn't think that he had left, he managed to snap back to reality. "Yeah, yeah. Use reverse real time telemetry on the satellites, got it," he said slowly.

"George, I'm sorry about what happened to you today; I really am." That tone of compassion and urgency was back in Jack's voice. "But if you aren't capable of running CTU, you should step down. Someone needs to be in command."

"There's no one else." Even as he said it, George knew this was a lie.

"What about Tony? Right now, even one of Britstow's people would do"

George had been thinking about that, but not yet. Not yet, goddamnit! "I got it together, Jack. I canhandle it."

Now there was a pause on the other end. "Yeah, okay," Jack didn't believe him, but George could handle that.

"Where are you on the sniper that took out the rest of the Coral Snake team?" George asked, trying to put Jack back on message.

"Nadia sent the security feed for the last hour over to CTU," Jack said. "Tony and Vaughn are going over the footage now. In the long run, it doesn't matter who they find; they have to have been working for the Covenant."

"Yeah, I know that much, Jack," George said with a ghost of his old sarcasm. "What I'd like to know is why they killed the Coral Snake team, but spared you and Bristow."

There was another long hesitation. "My best bet is that the sniper didn't want to risk it. He only had time for three shots before everyone hit the deck.. I may be wrong**__**But right now, that's lower on my list of things to worry about. Have we gotten anywhere on the people who attacked us at the hangar?"

"We're going over the bodies," George said. "All we can find in their records are links to Second Wave. Nothing directly linking them to the Covenant."

Jack didn't like this either. "Look, I have to go. Get back to me with the ID's."

**9:08:48/9:08:49/9:08:50**

While Sydney and Jack were interrogating the pilot of the decoy, Nadia pulled aside Curtis and asked if she could help him go through the security footage of the last two hours.

"I've had some experience with the Covenant; maybe I'll recognize some of the faces," sheexplained.

They pulled up the video feed and begin transmitted it to one of the laptops that CTU had brought to the air field.

It had taken her less than five minutes to realize the size of the task that she had undertaken. Norton was a big airfield with dozens of entrances and exits to cover. There had been more than a hundred civilians on the airport before they had closed it at hour ago. And this was based on the assumption that both the terrorists and the military team had entered the field using the major entrances. It would be easier to find a needle in a field of haystacks than to find a familiar face.

Nadia was considering writing the whole thing off as an exercise in futility when suddenly she saw something…"Freeze that. Magnify that section."

Before Curtis could ask what she was looking for, she had dialed CTU.

"Marshall Flinkman."

"Marshall, I need you to send me anything you have with Marie Warner's picture on it to my computer," Nadia instructed.

Marshall clearly had gotten the message from George Mason about being overly verbal, because all he said was: "Got it."

_Maybe when this is over_, she thought, _we can keep Mason_. _He can reinforce Marshall's brevity_. When she was done with that thought, she had the picture. "Son of a bitch."

The video feed had isolated a segment of a woman entering Norton Air Field. The woman had short-cropped dark hair, but she definitely had Marie Warner's face.

"Where have we been keeping the civilians?" she demanded of Curtis.

"Hangars MB-1 and MB-2," Curtis said promptly.

"Notify Sydney and Jack that Marie Warner is somewhere on Norton Air Field. Tell them we need to start doing sweeps hangar by hangar." Nadia got up and checked her weapon. "I'll start with the southernmost; they can work their way north."

Curtis raised his radio, and Nadia said, "In person. If she's near one of our people, she could know were coming."

"Aren't you going to wait for back-up?" Curtis asked.

Nadia shook her head. "No time," she said. "I'm the only one who knows what she looks like. Besides, I have a good idea who she's going to look for."

She spoke into her radio. "I need a location on Kate Warner."

**9:13:24/9:13:25/9:13:26**

George didn't know if walking around CTU was the best thing for him, but as he didn't know how much longer he would be able to move at all, he decided he might as well keep an eye on things down below.

As he walked past a cubicle, George saw Agent Vaughn talking with a woman he didn't recognize--- a woman in her mid twenties with long hair hanging over her shoulders. She would have been more attractive if it wasn't for the pout that seemed carved on to her face.

"Just start downloading here, I'll get back to you in a minute." Vaughn turned around and nearly walked into George. The director of CTU wasn't sure whether it was his presence or the fact that he looked more and more like a walking corpse that upset him.

"Oh, there you are," Vaughn said, trying to cover his shock. "George, this is the agent I sent to collect Bob Warner's hard drive. Dixon tasked her to be the new systems operative. George, this is Chloe Monroe."

She held out her hand. Before George could take it, another coughing fit ceased him--- the deepest yet.

"God," Chloe said. "You're in worse shape than everyone says you are."

Another man might have been angered by Chloe's response. But even before today, George had always appreciated those who had the ability to cut through the bullshit. "Something I can help you with?" he asked.

"Vaughn's basically got me set up," Chloe said. "I'm going to be downloading everything in the Warners**'** hard drive onto the server here. Anything else you'll need me to do?"

"Situation reports have changed in the last hour, so I'll need someone else to go over them."

"No problem," Chloe said calmly. "Just tell everyone to stay off my system." George was about to walk away when she spoke again. "Mr. Mason, who do I report to directly?"

Vaughn clearly wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. George decided to assume he had. "You report to me," he said.

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "No offense, Mr. Mason, but I don't think you're going to be in command much longer," she said bluntly. "So do I report to?"

George almost laughed. "They finally send someone I like and I'm not going to be around to enjoy it." George began to cough. "Tony Almeida." He coughed again. "And Michelle Dess-essler." Another fit of coughing ceased him and now he had to support himself with a pillar.

Vaughn walked up to George. "Are you making these changes all the way up the line?" he demanded.

George didn't know what he would have said, and it didn't matter because he was suddenly incapable of answering.

Chloe noticed this. "Mr. Mason?" she said. Before she could say anything else, George collapsed.

Vaughn quickly tried to stand in front of George so no one could see what happened, while Chloe got up and helped George up. Though he couldn't say so, George was grateful that she hadn't asked him if he was all right.

There was now no way he could answer affirmatively.

**9:18:14/9:18:15/9:18:16**

As soon as they had arrived, Jack Bauer had sent Kate Warner over to Hangar 13, where most of the other civilians had been rounded up. Nadia had assigned an agent to keep an eye on her, and had then been involved in the attack of the Coral Snake team and the search for the bomb.

Furthermore, if she was going to be completely honest, Nadia hadn't felt very comfortable being around a woman whose sister had shot Weiss. She knew that was a selfish and irrational excuse, but she had given in to the lesser angels of her nature for once.

This occupied Nadia's thoughts as she reached Hangar 13 and spoke with a fresh-faced security guard. "I'm looking for Kate Warner," she told him.

The guard looked around. "You just missed her," the guard said. "She told me to notify you and Agent Bristow, that she saw someone that she recognized, and she wanted your help."

Nadia had stopped listening at 'someone she recognized'. "Where did she go?" she demanded.

"Down the tarmac, towards Hangar 15."

Resisting the urge to tear the guard a new asshole for allowing something so stupid, she remained even sounding when she spoke. "Tell Agents Bauer and Bristow to meet me at Hangar 15. Tell them to be very quiet, and not to act until I give the word."

She didn't even wait for the guard to acknowledge this, before she started walking double time over to Hangar 15.

By the time she had almost reached the planes, Nadia thought she could hear two women. By the time, she was in the shadows, she knew she could almost see them, hidden as they were between two of the planes.

"What—what happened to you?" That was Kate Warner, and she sounded unnerved.

"I opened my eyes." Another voice. Nadia had only heard it once before, but she was sure it was Marie. Only this time it had the airily, almost spacey sound of a certifiable lunatic."That's what happened. I was a fool just like you--- until I met Sayed. Until I saw past the lies. The hypocrisy of this country. Of people like our father. He works for the CIA, did you know that?"

"No. No, he doesn't," Kate said. "And even if he did, so what?"

"So what? Do you have any idea of the suffering that they create in the world." By now Nadia had moved close enough to see what she had suspected--- Marie was holding a gun on Kate

Kate was starting to go from shocked to angry. "Oh please," she said sharply. "What are you, six years old? Dad is the enemy? I can't believe how ungrateful you are! Dad and I turned our lives upside down for you after Mom died. And for what?" Kate was getting madder. "So you could be brainwashed by some lunatic? Wise up, Marie! You're about to become the biggest murderer in the history of this country!"

That last was too much. Marie raised her pistol to hit Kate in a backhanded swing. Only while the two sisters had yelled at each other, Nadia had come up behind her When Kate was no longer in the way of the gun, Nadia grabbed it by the barrel, and twisted it further in, towards Marie. The barrel pressed to her shoulder as Nadia gave a final jerk, pulling it away. The gun went off, the bullet punching into Marie Warner's shoulder plexis and then got caught in the muscle tissue.

_Thank God she only had a .22, _Nadia thought as she went down, wailing in pain.

Nadia looked at the bitch who had shot Weiss, fallen to a bullet, and suddenly pistol-whipped her.

"What do you think about being shot now?" Nadia asked in a forced politeness that was almost as scary as the mild psychosis of the younger Warner. Nadia drove down with her heel on the bullet wound, driving the lead against the nerve center. Marie's entire side reacted as though she were on fire.

"Now imagine being gut shot and left for dead? You starting to get the picture now?" She drove more of her weight into it. "Can you imagine that? Fallen? Bleeding? Alone?"

Nadia wanted to kill her. She wanted to let her .9mm hollowpoints disembowel her and leave her for dead.

The next few seconds seemed to stretch out ahead of her. Nadia had already killed a lot of people today. Mentally and psychologically, it wouldn't have been that hard for her to pull the trigger. There would have been some repercussions, but not much of one; Marie Warner was a confirmed terrorist and murderer.

What ultimately stopped her from shooting Marie was the sound of her sister, sobbing hysterically. To kill a woman in front of her family was not a threshold she was willing to cross--- at least not yet.

Instead, she yelled outto the agents who had come running when the shots were fired. "Contact Agent Bauer and my sister! Tell them that I have Marie Warner!"

**9:26:35/9:26:36/9:26:37/9:26:38**

Marie Warner had been howling in pain for the last three minutes, but Nadia was starting to get used to it. Kate, however, who had followed the two other women over to Hangar 15, was clearly upset by it.

"You have to give her something for the pain," she demanded.

Nadia shot a look at Sydney that said _Do we still have to baby her? _Sydney got it, and answered Kate. "We will, as soon as she tells us what she knows."

"But you can't let her suffer like that," Kate pressed.

Sydney walked over to the other woman. "Kate, you're going to have to trust us," she said. "I know that you don't want to see your sister hurt, and I get where you're coming from, but right now you have to let us do this our way. Right now, millions of lives are at stake and your sister is the only lead we have. Do you understand?"

Nadia walked over to Jack. "Do we really still need Kate here?" she asked in a low voice.

Jack sighed. "I realize it's tricky having her around, but she may be able to reach her in a way that we can't."

"The woman just tried to kill her sister for an ID badge; you really think she's gonna listen to anything she has to say?" Nadia said doubtfully.

"I don't know," Jack admitted, "but we may have to try it."

Nadia looked at Sydney, who was coming back without Kate. "Let's hope not."

"Has Marie been prepped?" she asked as she approached them.

Nadia smiled. "A little, but I can get her more ready," she said harshly. She walked over to Marie, who had been handcuffed to a chair. She lifted up Marie's face and smiled. "Hello." She drew her gun and rammed the butt of it down on her shoulder. "That was for Eric Weiss," she said grimly. Then she repeated the motion on her other shoulder, almost dislocating it. "And that was for me."

Marie stopped her whimpering, now nearly unconscious from the pain.

"She's prepped. I think the two of you had better question her," she said coldly. "I may not be able to restrain myself if she gets difficult."

Sydney nodded and waited for her half-sister to walk out of the room, before she and Jack began the questioning in earnest.

"Where's the bomb, Marie?" Jack asked. "The real one?"

"I'm not going to tell you bastards anything," Marie said grimly.

Sydney walked over to her left side. "I didn't see exactly where Nadia shot you," she said slowly,"but based on the point of entry, I'd say the bullet is still in you. Right about here."

She then squeezed Marie's left shoulder, hard enough to start the whimpering again. "Tell us where the bomb is, and the pain stops!"

Sydney grabbed the woman's hair and yanked back, making her look her in the eyes. If anything, she was angrier then her sister was. This bitch had shot her friend and now she wanted her to suffer. She was finally starting to understand how Jack Bauer felt about Nina Myers.

"You're not as strong as you think you are," Sydney said. "You think that just because you were able to look people you love in the face and lie, that you're something you're not. That because you shot your fiancé and were willing to murder your own sister, you're big and strong enough to play the game of global chaos like a pro." She looked Marie dead in the eye. "But you're not, Marie. Let me tell you right now, that you are a child playing an adult's game. You will tell us where the bomb is. One way or the other, you will tell us."

With that Sydney let go. "Because you can't play at our level."

Marie Warner whimpered, her head lowered, not looking at anyone. That was the only reason Jack thought it was safe to shoot a concerned look at Sydney. What the hell was up with her?

When Marie looked back up, Jack's face softened to his "good cop" interrogation set. "Tell us where the bomb is,"

Marie whimpered some more before she finally spoke very quietly. "It's in the suitcase." Marie sniffled. "In the van…Downtown. The Arco Tower."

What kind of van? What make it?" Jack prodded.

"Green. I don't know what make."

Sydney and Jack exchanged a look. Marie's attitude seemed a little---off. Sydney signaled the other agent in the room to halt in sending out a report. "When it's set to go off?" she demanded.

"Three hours, That's what the timer said"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "You're lying," he said. "A bomb this size wouldn't have a visual timer."

"I'm not lying," Marie insisted. "You have to send them all to the Arco Tower."

"I thought we had three hours." Sydney was back in Marie's face. "Why are you so desperate for us to leave?"

Marie refused to answer, but it didn't matter. "The bomb'sstill here," Jack said.

Sydney got on the radio. "Nadia, have the teams initiate a complete search of the airport, starting at the north and heading southward. Confidence is high that the bomb is on site!"

Jack and Sydney rushed out of the hangar so fast that they missed Marie's last words on the subject.

"They'll never find it," she said. "We're all going to die."

**9:35:10/9:35:11/9:35:12**

Marshall walked over to the new tech, who was typing furiously at her keyboard. "Um, you're the new systems analyst," he began.

"Is that a question?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, I'm Marshall Flinkman, tech analysis."

"I'm very happy for you." Chloe said, without looking up.

"Well, I'm glad to welcome you here to CTU, and, ah, even though I don't normally work here, I've got to say that there's a real nice bunch of people, and considering everything that's happened today, they're doing a tremendous job—"

At this point, Chloe turned away from her computer. "You're the guy who operates out of APO, right?' she asked.

Not used to this kind of abruptness, Marshall shook his head and said. "Right."

"Well, maybe they find your way of talking charming at APO, but here at CTU we don't have time to go on safari through your syntax." Chloe lowered her hand. "I'm sure that you're a nice guy and everything, sure you're a lot of fun, but right now, I have a job to do and I'm going do it. Now, if you need some assistance from my tech server, I'd be more than willing to help. If not, go back and do your job, and let me do mine. Okay?"

Marshall seemed to recover his senses. "You're going over the files from Bob Warner's hard drive, and you need some help breaking through the encryption." When Chloe looked up at this, he shrugged. "Vaughn told me you needed help in that area.'

"I could use a little help getting through the second layer of algorithms," Chloe admitted.

"Well, I've got some cool software that's really good at cutting through government code," Marshall said cheerfully. "Should take no time to get around the Comstat grid."

"I don't need a sales pitch. Just have your computer ready to receive the software."

"Um, yeah, sure." As Marshall walked back to his desk, he passed by Michelle. "New analyst, she's, ah, wound a little tight."

Tony had been watching this byplay when he saw that George was standing next to him. "Got a second?" he asked.

Tony nodded. "What is it?"

George took a deep breath. "I think that it's time I stepped down. I'm not feeling so hot."

Though it was a stupid question to ask given the circumstances, Tony asked: "Is there anything I can do?"

"Actually, yes. Tomorrow, when all this is over, get everybody together and tell them what an honor it was to work with all of them and what a great job they all did."

Tony felt a lump in his throat. "Sure."

George actually laughed. "Remember this morning when I told you that I couldn't wait to get out of here?" Tony nodded. "I don't feel that way anymore."

He pressed a card into Tony's hand. "What's this?" Tony asked.

"Access codes and keys to Division. You're the new director of CTU," George said simply. "I just got off the phone with Chapelle. You'rethe new guy."

Suddenly, Tony thought of every nasty, simple-minded thing he had ever said about George. "Look George, I---"

"It's all right," George said. "Good luck."

Only Tony and Michelle were watching when George Mason left CTU for the last time. He walked slowly and carefully, trying to see the offices that he had hated for much of his career here and yet were a part of whatever legacy he might have. Michelle came close to crying as the boss she hadn't had a lot of decent things to say for just walked away.

At the time, both thought it was the last thing George would ever do for his country.

They were wrong.

Sydney had taken a team to the northern end of the airport to join up with Nadia and Steve Goodrich, while Jack and his team started on the southern end.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Curtis asked.

"I'm not sure," admitted Sydney. "They probably won't have another plane, so they'll probably be trying to carry it some kind of large land vehicle." She got on the cell with CTU. "Marshall, where are we with the satellites?"

"Hold on," Marshall said. "The decoy plane's original location was Hangar 37. Infrareds are showing a vehicle and a concentration of people still at that location."

"Copy that! Get on the horn with Jack and Nadia. Tell them we're going to do this again!"

**9:43:05/9:43:06/9:43:07/9:43:08**

"Everyone's ready down here," Michelle said

"Good." Tony hung up. He knew what he was about to announce might drop morale a bit but he also knew the people here were professionals. Besides, they needed to know about the change in the chain of command.

He walked downstairs from George's office--- his office now, he reminded himself---- and looked at the people gathered around. "For those of you who haven't heard," he told the group, "earlier today, George Mason was exposed to a lethal dose of plutonium. It's very serious, and he hasn't got much time. He just left the office and he won't be coming back." He needed to pause to swallow the lump in his throat. "Which means I'll be in charge until further notice."

There was sadness but not much surprise. George Mason's condition had been the elephant in the room for the last eight hours.

"Now on a normal day, we would stop to mourn George, just as we would mourn Richardson and Paula and the rest of the people who have died today. Unfortunately, we're going to have to put our feelings on hold until this crisis has been resolved." He looked around. "So let's get back to work."

It was a weak finish but it served its purpose; the agents at CTU dispersed quietly.

"I know I don't really work here, but that was a pretty good speech," Vaughn said as he walked up to Tony.

"Thanks." And now Tony put his mind back on the job. "Where are we with Marie Warner?"

"Jack and Sydney think they're on to something." Vaughn then lowered his voice. "I actually came to talk to you about some of the data we got off Bob Warner's hard drive. It's definitely suspicious." By now Vaughn and Tony had walked over to Chloe. "Tell him what you found."

"Most of the data's still encrypted," Chloe began, "but there are repeated occurrences of ten digit strings. Judging from the pattern, I think they're phone numbers. I'm isolating them on a separate file, until I've gotten further along on the decoding, but Vaughn said he recognized this one."

"It's from APO. It's Sloane's number." Before Tony could react, he added: "Warner said his company passed intelligence for the CIA. For all we know, this could be legitimate business."

"How much legitimate business involves a black-ops unit?" Tony turned around. "Don't worry. I know better than to go up against Sloane without definitive proof. Keep decoding, and let me know what you find."

**9:47:35/9:47:36/9:47:37/9:47:38**

When they were less than a hundred yards away from Hangar 37, Sydney got out her binoculars to try and get a look at the scenery. There was a large white semi being guarded by five mercenaries--- and that didn't count whoever was in the truck.

The main hangar door was open. No one had bothered to close it after moving the plane. The truck had literally been left in plain sight.

"I can only guess they were relying on secrecy", Syd said.

Jack almost laughed. "A lot of good that will do them." He raised his radio, "All snipers, fire."

The only reason it took them ten minutes to storm the van was that was how long it had taken to get the snipers into position. Two shooters, each with a thermal scope mounted on top of their .50 caliber rifles, each bullet could rip through the shell of a tank. Even had the hangar down been down, it still would have afforded no protection.

Syd and Jack had decided it wasn't worth the risk of a major shootout. If these guys were any good, a firefight would have been a disaster.

With the snipers, the shooting was over within five seconds

"All hostiles are down!" Jack yelled to the radio at CTU.

A moment later two agents opened the back doors of the van. In the back of the van was another box. Sydney signaled to the bomb squad and stepped back to let them in.

"What've we got?" Sydney demanded.

The agents flicked the Geiger counter over the bag. "Definitely nuclear." One of the technicians said. He pulled up one of the counters to reveal some wires. "And this is a triggering device. This is the bomb."

Jack got on the radio with CTU. "Order a level one evacuation of the airfield. We have the bomb!"

There was a fair amount of jubilation at CTU, and Tony fervently wished he could have joined in the celebration. Unfortunately, he had some important business to take care of--- though he wouldn't deny he would be taking some pleasure in this as well.

"Mr. Sloane," he said as he approached the man in this unit he liked the least.

"What can I do for you, Tony?" Sloane asked.

"You're aware that several hours ago, Roger Stanton was relieved of command of NSA?" Sloane nodded. "Less than two hours ago, after extreme methods were used, he revealed that NSA knew about the bomb weeks ago, and that he had sent the Coral Snake team after it." Tony lowered his voice. "After we found the decoy, he revealed another individuals involvement in the conspiracy: Sherry Palmer."

Tony had to give it to Sloane: his stone-face never wavered. "Really?" he said neutrally.

"The President's relationship with his ex-wife has always been complicated," Tony added, "but he couldn't believe that she would commit treason. However, some other people in the agency did not trust her, and monitored several of the phone calls that Sherry Palmer made while at Northwest Regional. In several of those conversations," Tony's voice became colder and added "it's clear that she is talking to you."

Sloane even took this news without reacting. "I suppose I'm under arrest," he said calmly.

"Right now, we can't charge you with anything," Tony admitted, "but that doesn't mean we don't have some questions." He made a motion to two of the men standing near him. "Put Mr. Sloane in Holding 3. A lot of people are going to want to talk with you."

Sydney turned back to the technicians, working on the nuclear device. One had a grim look on his face. "It's armed."

_Fuck. _"How much time do we have?" Sydney asked.

"I don't know," The tech then said the four words she didn't want to hear. "Could be any second."

**9:53:11/9:53:12/9:53:13/9:53:14**

The bomb squad had lost no time in getting to work, carefully moving it into the nearest hangar and then beginning to work. Sydney wasn't an expert on the workings of bombs, but she figured that they had to be looking for the trigger and the timing circuits that were connected to the detonator.

"How's it going?" Nadia asked Sydney.

Sydney shook her head. "I'm not sure," she admitted. They need to find the bypass, but whoever put this together was good. It's not going to have an off switch."

Just then, the technicians in front of the bomb stood up. Sydney did not like the expressions on their faces.

He, Nadia and Sydney walked back inside the hangar. "Is there a problem?" Sydney asked.

"The trigger's tamper-proof" said the Asian tech sourly. "I should have seen it, but it was disguised. If it's disassembled or disconnected, it'll detonate."

"Are you telling us that there's no way to defuse this bomb?" Jack asked.

"That's what I'm telling you."

Jack immediately ran to the other end of hangar, where Curtis was waiting.

" There's no way to defuse the bomb," Jack said. "We're going to have to fly it out of here. Now this airport doesn't accommodate jets, so I need you to find me the fastest plane you can, but it's has to be reliable."

"There's a Cessna caravan at Hangar 3," Curtis replied. "Solid plane, cruises at 210."

"Get it," Jack got on the phone. Sydney had a good idea who he was calling and what was going to happen next.

She walked over to the techs. "Either of you get a look at the timer?" she asked. The Asian tech nodded. "How long do we have?"

"Over an hour," said the first tech grimly. "We have until 11 o'clock."

Again the clock was their enemy.

Tony walked over to the computer banks where Marshall and Michelle were waiting.

"All right, Jack says the plane can be ready go in less than ten minutes," he began. "I've contacted the FAA, they're going to make sure the airspace we need is clear. There's going to be a ten-kiloton nuclear blast in a little more than sixty-five minutes. We have to find the safest place for it to go off. Marshall, you're going to detail the effects of the bomb going off in the Pacific; Michelle's going to do the same thing with the Mojave Desert." He turned to Marshall.

"All right, bearing in mind that I don't know how reliable the figures are," Marshall put his hands together. "Basically, the plane can get as far as eighty miles offshore in the time we have. If the pilot pushes the bomb out a few minutes before detonation, it will go off underwater, and the ocean will bear the blast. But prevailing winds would blow some residual radiation over LA. In time, we'd have examples of cancer and birth defects. Furthermore, this eighty-mile radius is filled with ships--- at least two dozen freighters, and God knows how many number of uncharted boats. Bomb goes off, they'd likely be capsized."

"What about the environmental effects?" Tony asked.

Marshall shook his head. 'Nothing but bad news. Keystone species would be exterminated, the food chain would break down, and the underlying ecological infrastructure would collapse. Marine resources such as offshore drilling, commercial fishing and even recreational beach usage would be unsafe for generations." He sighed. "It would be a biological nightmare."

Tony turned to Michelle. "What about the desert?" he asked.

"A Ground Zero would be designated in an isolated location in the Mojave," Michelle began. "Neighboring towns could be evacuated with minimal risk to health. However, some lone campers or hikers could be killed by the blast. If there's a wind shift, there could be some residual radiation blown over Las Vegas, but the best meteorological experts says that's very unlikely."

"What about the long term effects?" Tony asked.

"An area of a few square miles around ground zero would be radioactive for decades, but as we don't get any food or resources from the desert anyway, the environmental impact would be relatively small." Michelle hesitated. "However, there is one thing we have to consider."

"Which is?"

"In the desert, Ground Zero would have to be a precise location. A depression below sea level, with mountains to hopefully contain the fallout. I've got a list of potential targets, but…"

Tony got it. "There are no military aircraft at Norton," he said. "In order for the payload to be delivered, the pilot has to go down with the plane."

**9:59/57/9:59:58/9:59:59/10:00:00**


	15. 10:00 PM to 11:00 PM

**Chapter 15**

**The Following takes place between 10:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M.**

"Who's going to be flying the plane?" the President asked.

"We have some volunteers," Jack said slowly. "All of them good men."

The President paused. "Tell whoever it is that they have the undying gratitude of every citizen of this country," he said. "And that their family will be taken care of for the rest of their lives."

Jack paused. "Yes, sir. I will."

'Call me when the plane's in the air."

"Yes, Mr. President."

Jack got off the phone to find Sydney standing nearby. "Funny," she said darkly. "I don't see any volunteers. You didn't even ask." She raised a brow. "Were you going to? Even better question, I read your record—when's the last time you flew a plane?"

"I can get it in the air and put it down where it needs to go." Jack insisted.

"So can I, and I don't have a daughter to come home to or leave behind. I don't have a family to run away from."

Jack glared at her, and her choice of words. " We don't have time to argue. I'm taking the plane up. End of story." Then before anyone else couldsay anything, Jack got on the radio. "People, it's the desert. I want the bomb taken to Hangar 3 and I want the air cleared! We are good to go now!"

And then, looking like he had come straight from the back end of Hell, George Mason stepped into view. "Exactly what do you need a plane for?"

Dixon had called Sydney to tell her that at some point during the search for the bomb, George Mason had ingested plutonium, and had to be relieved of his command. (The fact that Mason had been working as director of CTU in his death throes disturbed Sydney, but she could understandwhy he wouldn't want to leave his post.), Mason had appointed Tony Almeida director of CTU, and had left, presumably to go to a hospital and wait out his final hours. Instead, he had come here, looking literally like death warmed over.

Jack was clearly stunned to see his ex-boss as well. "George? What are you doing here?" he demanded.

With what was clearly a great deal of effort, Mason walked forward. "This is the thing that killed me" he said bluntly. "I'd kind of like to be here when we lay it to rest. They get it defused yet?"

"They can't," said Sydney. "We have about an hour….Director Mason, should you be here?"

"I promised myself I would see this through to the end," George said solemnly. "That's what I'm going to do."

He started to cough, this time hard enough to convulse his entire body. He tried to take something out of his pocket, fumbled with it, and managed to get it back in his hand. Sydney wasn't sure what it was and supposed it didn't matter now.

George Mason was way past modern medicine.

"Now, what was that I heard about the bomb and a plane?"

Sydney said, simply, "It'll be flown out to the desert and detonated." She coughed nervously.

"One way trip, that it?" Mason asked thoughtfully. "Okay, I'm flying it up."

"No, George, you're not," Jack nearly snarled at him. "George, if you blacked out and crashed the plane, you could kill thousands of people and I know you don't want that." Jack grabbed George's shoulder. "George, I know what you're trying to do but I can't let you. "

"Let him, Jack," Sydney had just reappeared to hear the last of the argument. "For God sakes, you have people who love you on the ground!"

Mason nodded. "Besides, when's the last time you flew a plane, Jack?"

"I can get it in the air and put it down where it needs to go." Jack insisted.

"So can I," George said. "I'm current, I'm instrument-rated, and I'm gonna be dead by the end of the day anyway."

It was a hard argument to counter, but Jack did. "George, the problem is you could be dead any minute."

"I can hold on another half-hour, " George pressed. "That's all we need."

"We don't have a choice," Jack asked. "and we don't have time to argue. I'm taking the plane up. End of story."

Jack marched off, and George looked at Sydney. "Agent Bristow, mind if I talk with you a minute?"

**10:07:07/10:07:08/10:07:09/10:07:10**

"All right, keep me updated on his progress." Vaughn hung up and walked over to Marshall.

'You finally get word on Weiss?" the tech said.

"Finally some good news," Vaughn said. "Eric's in recovery. He lost a lot of blood and he was touch and go for a while, but he's gonna pull through. They're gonna transfer him to the medical facilities here."

Marshall exhaled. "That's a relief. I mean, considering all the crap we've had to deal with today, at least something finally turned our way." He paused. "I mean, along with getting to the nuke before anyone else was hurt, that was pretty good."

Tony walked past them. "Tony," Vaughn said "a word." He started walking beside the new director. "Why have you taken Sloane into custody?"

"Don't tell me you actually care what happens to that scum-fuck" Tony said brusquely.

"You want to send Sloane to prison, I don't have a problem," Vaughn said sharply. "I'd just like to know what it is he's done _this_ time."

"I'm honestly not sure," Tony admitted. "All I know is that twenty minutes I got a call from Mike Novick telling me that the President has reason to believe Sloane has some subterranean connection to what's been happening today, and that he needed to be taken out of play." Tony paused. "He also told me that in less than an hour, another agent will be arriving to begin interrogating him."

"Who?"

"Your guy, Jack Bristow." Tony said.

Vaughn blinked. "I thought he was still in South Korea," he countered.

"He's been in transit ever since we first heard of today's threat. His plane just touched down less than an hour ago. According to Mike, he's to handle everything connected with Arvin Sloane from this point on."

Vaughn considered this. "Look, I'd be lying if I said I trusted Sloane even a little," he began, "but he's been under a microscope all day. When do you think he had the chance to do something underhanded?" Before Tony could answer, he replied. "Never mind. I forgot who I was talking about."

Tony gave a grim smile. "Look, I've got to get back on the horn with Norton," he said. "And after that I've got a shitload of stuff involved with Sayed Ali to handle. Could we hold off any further discussion regarding Sloane until we've disposed of the bomb?"

"Sure," Vaughn said. "And by the way, congratulations for getting through this."

"Don't thank me yet," Tony said. "I've got a nagging feeling the real hellstorm's about to hit."

Michelle walked over to the other CTU tech. "Marshall, you still working on the Warner hard drive?" she asked.

"Another ten minutes and the data stream should be ready," Marshall said eagerly.

"I'm gonna need you to drop this for the time being," Michelle said. "Something more important just came up."

"What?"

"About ten minutes ago, a couple of agents arrived with the contents of Sayed Ali's safehouse."

Marshall blinked. "Isn't that, like, on the other side of the world?"

Michelle gave a smile. "I didn't say it was easy to get it." She went back to business. "Anyway, most of it was pretty innocuous, at least for someone like Ali, but they did find this." She held out a small gray device that held some kind of disk in it. "Apparently, they almost missed finding this. They tried reading it, but it's encrypted with a Z-cube algorithm."

"That's pretty high-level encryption" Marshall said.

"How long will you need to break the code?"

Marshall mentally calculated. "Fifteen, twenty minutes maybe," he finally said.

"Marshall, there isn't any way we could persuade you to come work here, is there?" Michelle asked, only half in jest.

"I'll let you know." When he saw Michelle raise her eyebrows, he added: "Hey, given what's going on with Mr. Sloane, I may not have the best job security right now."

**10:14:29/10:14:30/10:14:31**

"I synchronized this clock with the one on the bomb," the tech told Bauer. "It tells you exactly how much time you have."

As Jack took the timer from him, Sydney was surprised how calm the man seemed to be. He was about to do the ultimate kamikaze run, and he was acting like he was just going out for a drive.

"Is there anyway I can talk you out of this?" Sydney asked again.

Jack gave a small smile. "There's no other way. I can't ask anyone else to do it."

"Can I ask you something?...In private?"

Jack furrowed his brow, then looked at the tech. It would take another minute or two to load the bomb.

The two of them moved just inside the door of the hangar. "Jack…as much as I've given you a hard time today, it has been a privilege working with you. And as much as I respect your decision, I can't let you do this. You have a daughter at home. I know what it's like growing up without a family, and I can't let you do this to her."

Bauer shook his head, sadly. "What are you going to do? Fight me? We've done this before. I'm not—"

Just then, Jack felt a sting in his back. Before he could turn around, he slipped to one knee, then onto his side, unable to move.

Mason stepped into his line of vision, and bent down cautiously, in a crouch, close to Jack. In his other hand was a dart gun. "See Jack, I did learn something from you. Ms. Bristow's people are quite resourceful with their toys."

"I know why you were going to go up Jack. You've had a death wish ever since Teri died. Bristow sees it, and she only knew you for twelve hours," George said bluntly. "The way the last year and a half has been for you, maybe this doesn't look that bad. Get to go out in a blaze of glory, one of the greatest heroes of all time, leave your troubles behind. This could be the easy way out."

George was interrupted by a small fit of coughing, but his eyes were still focused. "You've still got a life, Jack. You want to be a real hero? Here's what you do. Get up when the paralytic wears off, and put the pieces together. Find a way to get past what happened to your wife. Make things right with your daughter. Go on serving your country. That'd take some real guts, Jack." He patted Jack on the shoulder. "Say hi to Kim for me."

Mason stood up, looking down the barrel of Sydney's gun. "What? I'm not even on the plane yet, and you want to shoot me for the lack of an in-flight movie?"

"Can you do this, Mason?" she asked, her voice deadly serious. "You're absolutely sure that you can do this?" she demanded.

"Sydney," George said simply "I'm _supposed_ to do this. Just get me out there."

Nadia couldn't believe how upset she was that Jack Bauer was doing this. There were a lot of things about the man's work ethic that angered her, but over the course of the day, she had come to respect him and how he made the tough decisions. She also felt that there was something cosmically wrong about a man who hadn't worked for the government when the day began ended it by sacrificing his life for it.

"You know" Nadia said finally, to herself. "This job really sucks sometimes."

Sydney came up to her from the hangar, George Mason moving from the hangar with weak but determined strides. "Nadia, in a few minutes, you're going to want to go into the hangar, I left something there." She got on the radio. "Agent Manning, tell the other police that Marie Warner is to be taken back to the holding. Agent Santos will be going to take her sister back to CTU to debrief."

Sydney handed her sister back the phone. "For the next fifteen minutes, you're the ranking agent on scene. Right now, Mason and I have a plane to catch."

Bristow ran to the plane, leaving a bemused Nadia behind.

**10:20:44/10:20:45/10:20:46/10:20:47**

Vaughn walked over to Tony. "The plane's off the ground," he told him.

"How long until it's outside the city limits?" There was a tiredness in Tony's voice that Vaughn hadn't heard before.

"Another ten minutes and it should be outside the populated areas," Vaughn hesitated. "There really wasn't anyone other than Bauer who could have flown the plane?" he asked reluctantly.

"I tried arguing with him, Sydney argued with him, Jack said that we were out of time and options." Tony shook his head. "When Jack got fixed on an idea, there never was any luck changing his mind."

Vaughn paused. "You know, I can contact Dixon at Division," he said slowly. "He handled getting Kim Bauer out of LA, I'm sure that he'd be willing to handle this."

Tony shook his head. "Thanks but no." He sighed. "I'm now CTU director; I'm supposed to be the one who gives the bad news." He picked up his phone. "Besides, I just got off the phone with Secret Service. Division's going to have it's hands full in the next few hours."

Vaughn was surprised. "President Palmer's coming to LA?"

"Looks that way. I guess this is what they call leadership, even if it does raise a lot of headaches." Tony pulled the phone away from his ear. "Could you give me a couple of minutes?"

Vaughn got out of the room. As he headed downstairs, he saw Chloe trying to talk with a man of Arabic descent. He supposed that this had something to do with Sayed Ali, but he was having trouble getting the energy to care.

_I need to get some coffee into my system_. _The man's attitude is probably going to be irrelevant, but I've got a nasty feeling that in the not-too-distant we're going to be doing some brutal shit to his country, and that part of it _is _going to be important._

Reluctantly Vaughn headed downstairs, trying to put the soon-to-be-orphaned Kim Bauer out of his head.

He wasn't surprised that he couldn't do it.

**10:26:15/10:26:16/10:26:17**

Nadia stepped inside the hangar, shocked at the groggy form of Jack Bauer. She moved to his side, seeing an APO configured dart sticking out of his back.

"Agent Bauer, what happened?"

"Your sister," Jack grumbled. "She can be stubborn sometimes."

"I noticed." She grabbed his arm and yanked him up into a sitting position, careful to move the dart.

"They're up?" he asked.

"Over ten minutes ago."

Jack closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, almost peacefully. " I'm either going to thank your sister, he said calmly, "or shoot her."

"She gets that a lot."

Jack smiled faintly, then said, under his breath, "Thank you George."

**10:31:15/10:31:16/10:31:17**

Sydney's cell phone went off, surprising her. She didn't know she could get cell phone reception this far up. Then again, it wasn't a jet at 20,000 feet, they were only a few hundred feet off the ground.

Mason smiled. "Think it's Jack, calling to tell you not to come back?"

Syd glanced at him and shook her head, answering, "This is Sydney Bristow."

"Sydney, it's your father."

Sydney was surprised and relieved. Since this entire nightmare had started this morning, she'd had no time to worry about where her father was. "Dad?" she said. "Where are you?"

"Getting from San Diego to Los Angeles," Jack Bristow said with the same cold brusqueness that Sydney had come to expect from her father. "I was working in South Korea, breaking the lead on this bomb. I've spent the last ten hours trying to get here. The airspace over California has been considered not secure until this threat had passed. It was only a couple of hours ago that we got clearance to land in San Diego."

"Well, I'm glad you're all right,"

"Believe me, Sydney, I was far more worried about you." Sydney could hear the relief in her fathers voice, which told her that he had been very concerned---- it took a lot to get beneath the cold veneer that Jack Bristow put up. "In any right, I'll be arriving at CTU sometime in the next twenty minutes."

Sydney was a little surprised. "Why?" she asked. "I thought that with the crisis averted, the executive order was no longer in play."

"Unfortunately, over the last hours some troubling issues have been raised regarding our unit. Are you with Nadia?"

Sydney was smart enough to know that this was code for 'something's happened involving Sloane.' "No."

There was another hesitation. "In which case, I'll call her next. About an hour ago, I received a call from Mike Novick, the president's chief of staff. He told me that there was good evidence that Roger Stanton had been having meetings with Sherry Palmer, the President's ex-wife. When confronted with this information, Sherry Palmer said that she had met with Stanton several times using a go-between. This go-between also provided her with vital information during today's crisis."

"Let me guess, Sloane."

"According to Mrs. Palmer, yes."

Sydney was glad Nadia wasn't anywhere near her. Just hearing that Arvin Sloane was still a traitor was the equivalent of Christmas morning for her. "How certain are we that Sherry Palmer is telling the truth?"

"Not sure at all," her father admitted. "Sherry Palmer's reputation for mendacity is rather substantial. Novick also told me that neither he nor the President had even been aware that Sloane worked for the government until early this morning. The President expressed his dissatisfaction with this more than once during the day."

"Are you saying that this could be nothing more than a vendetta by President Palmer?"

"First of all, the President is not the kind of man to hold grudges," Jack Bristow said. "Second of all, there is some evidence to suggest that verify what Sherry said is true. I've been going over it for the past half hour. The majority of it is in the grayness that deals with so much of Sloane's dealings, but it appears to back up Sherry's story. That's the main reason I'm headed back to CTU. Novick and Division both want me to lead the interrogation of your father."

"Are they going to revoke his pardon?"

"That is the most likely outcome," Mr. Bristow admitted.

"Nadia should be at CTU in less than fifteen minutes…you might want to let her talk with him—you know she'll want to. And Nadia can be as stubborn as I am."

Mason, hearing only half the conversation, said, "She didn't strike me as that bad."

"I'll see what I can do." Her father paused. "I'll be at CTU soon. I'll talk to her then."

Sydney just sat there, wondering if her relationship with her sister would be yet another relationship of hers that Arvin Sloane had laid to waste.

**10:35:54/10:35:55/10:35:56/10:35:57**

Michelle walked into Tony's office. Tony was staring at the walls. "Everything okay?" she asked, knowing very well that it wasn't.

"I just got off the phone with Kim." Tony said simply.

"Jack got a chance to say goodbye?" Michelle asked.

Tony opened his mouth, clearly about to say something, then shook his head. "It's complicated. Let's just say that they got to talk…When we're done, I'll need you to get a chopper to tail the plane. Mason is going to be taking the bomb the rest of the way." He sighed, scratching his neck.

"What did you find?"

"We decrypted the hard drive," Michelle began. "It's a recording of a conversation Sayed Ali had in Cyprus around four months ago, with representatives of these three countries." She showed Tony a list documenting the names of the countries--- all in the Middle East. "Not only did they know about the bomb, they bought and paid for Sayed Ali to use it. The translation is a bit rushed," Michelle admitted "but the content is accurate. I've already got Marshall working on voiceprint authentication of all three individuals on this tape. And after I get the chopper, I'll contact Division."

Tony nodded, then Michelle left. Tony got on the phone and dialed Northwest Regional. "This is Tony Almeida. I need to speak with the President right away."

"One moment, please."

As the call was transferred, Tony looked out the window. Marshall was having a rather pointed discussion with the new systems analyst, Chloe. Tony hoped he wasn't going to have to play referee between those two personalities. He thought he'd have to.

" What is it, Mr. Almeida?" The President said.

"Mr. President, I have some new information in regard to Sayed Ali.".

"What sort of information?"

"We have a recording of representatives of three Middle Eastern countries collaborating with Ali in relation to today's attack."

"How long ago did this information surface?" the President demanded.

"Just a few minutes ago," Tony admitted.

"Who else knows about it?"

"Our Division headquarters."

"Which has ties to the Pentagon, which means that everybody knows by now." The President spoke with some scorn.

"I tagged it with a Section 4 security label, but I did think that it was important that we begin the authentication process as soon as possible."

"And how long will that take?" asked the President.

"We should have initial confirmation within the hour." Tony assured the President.

"Let me ask you another question," said the President. "Why would Sayed Ali make a recording like this in the first place?"

"Mr. President, these people trust each other less then they do us, " Tony explained. "My guess is that Sayed Ali wanted leverage in case one of the countries tried to renege on their promises."

There was a pause. "All right, I'll let you get back to work," said the President. "Good work. Please pass on my appreciation to the rest of the people in your office."

As he hung up, Tony realized the consequences of what he had just revealed. Military action had been put on the backburner, as long the bomb had been the only threat. However, once the nuke actually went off, the President was going to have to make some hard choices, and those choices only began with invasion.

For the first time, Tony realized they might be about to enter World War III.

**10:40:28/10:40:29/10:40:30**

"This is Cessna 47." Sydney said "I've just crossed over into the low desert. Any change in my final target?"

The radio crackled. "Negative. Target is locked."

"Copy that." she flicked a switch. "Engaging autopilot zero-eight-niner."

"Copy."

Sydney looked over to Mason. "You're clear on everything you have to do?"

Mason nodded. "You did everything but staple it to my forehead. I know where I have to crash. And even if I survive the impact, I won't need to worry about it for long. Got it."

Sydney got out of her seat, readying the chute around her back. "All right. I'm set." She put her hand on George's shoulder. "Is there anything that you want me to do for you?"

George gave a small smile. "Oddly enough, I'm squared away. I even got to spend a little time with my son."

Despite herself, she smiled. "I'm glad you got to see him."

"I don't think he was particularly." George coughed. "To tell you the truth, I'd be grateful if you or Jack could check in on him."

"I will, and I'm sure Jack will too." Sydney smiled sadly, and found out she had run out of things to say. She rested a hand on George's shoulder. There was a pause, and George grabbed it.

"You'd better go." He said.

"Yes."

Sydney put on her helmet and goggles, walked to the side door of the plane and yanked open. She took one last look at the man who was giving his life for his country--- a man no one had thought could have done it this morning, not even himself.

Then she leapt out.

"How did the conversation with your daughter go?" Nadia asked.

Jack smiled slightly, leaning back in the back of the CTU truck. "Better than I expected. Things have been…difficult between us."

Nadia almost laughed. "I can understand that. She's a teenager, and even when one has a normal life, that alone can be difficult."

Bauer nodded slowly, looking at her. "And you? How was your childhood?"

She did laugh this time. "Oh, Agent Bauer, you cannot use me as a template. Your father isn't a terrorist."

Jack almost laughed. "Well, not yet."

Before she could retort, her phone rang. "Yes…hello Agent Bristow…"

Jack raised a brow. Obviously, it wasn't Sydney. Could this be the other Jack, her father?

"Let me guess," Nadia said in a voice that was clearly forced, "the go-between was my father…How certain are we that Sherry Palmer is telling the truth?" she asked in a dispassionate tone.

Jack frowned. He had had brief interaction with the President's ex-wife, before she became ex. Reliving the experience---- like almost everything else about that day----- was far from desired.

"…Are you saying that this could be nothing more than a vendetta by President Palmer?" Nadia said, calmly. There was another long silence. "Are they going to revoke his pardon? ….Are they going to revoke it?" Nadia asked again. Another long pause. "We'll be at CTU in less than fifteen minutes," Nadia said. "When you begin your interrogation, I would appreciate if I could briefly be allowed to talk to him. Just let me talk to him….thank you."

Nadia turned off the phone.

"Who is your father?" Jack said curiously.

Nadia glared at him. "Arvin Sloane."

Santos held her glare, expecting Jack to snap at her. Instead, he did the oddest thing…reached out and touched her hand. "I'm sorry."

**10:46:39/10:46:40/10:46:41/10:46:42**

_**Undisclosed Location**_

Lieutenant Jonathan Wallace of Coral Snake very wearily got out of his car. He didn't like to deviate from an assigned mission anymore than he had to, but he also knew that he had no choice, considering who his bosses were.

His cell phone rang. "Yes?" he said sharply.

"Do you have the item?" The voice on the other end of the phone was scrambled so that no one could recognize it.

"I do."

"Where is it?"

'It's in a safe place," Wallace snarled. "And no one sees it until my safety is guaranteed."

There was a moment of silence. "No one's safety has been guaranteed in this mission."

Suddenly the other end disconnected. Wallace drew his pistol, and tried to look everywhere at once.

A single shot rang out. It took off the back of Wallace's head. He collapsed in a heap.

A figure in black walked out from behind a car. The figure looked at Wallace scornfully, and pulled out a small knife.

Michelle was giving the instructions to Marshal on how to dig up the independent sources they were going to need to verify the recording they had found in Ali's apartment, when suddenly Marshall saw someone he hadn't expected to say.

The newcomer was pristinely ordered, immaculately dressed in shirt and tie, gray hair forced into place as though by force of will—it was hard to imagine him using hair products to keep it in line, and even harder to imagine him needing any. His dress was so perfect he could walk into almost any business and command immediate respect, attention, and access.

"Mr. Bristow!" A bit of Marshall's old enthusiasm returned as he saw a familiar face again. "I was wondering where you were after all this time. A lot's been going on."

"I know that, Marshall." Jack Bristow said in the cold, business-like tone that Marshall had come to expect from Sydney's father. "Who's in charge?"

"Um, I guess, Mr. Almeida, he's in the office…" Marshall trailed off as he saw Tony appear at the base of the stairs.

"Mr. Almeida, I'm Jack Bristow."

"Right," Tony said "Dixon called and told me. You're here to handle Sloane's interrogation."

"I take it my daughter's still in the field."

Tony looked at his watch. "She'll be back soon enough.Look, I realize you've come a long way but I've got a couple of things before we handle Sloane."

"Sloane should be a top priority," Mr. Bristow pointed out.

"Not today he isn't." Tony snapped.

"I realize that you've had to deal with a lot today," the man began

"Mr. Bristow, no offense, but you haven't been here today. This entire search from the bomb has been nothing short of an unending nightmare, getting worse every time we come close to an end. Now that I've been put in charge of the office, the bomb's about to go off, and it turns out that there's a damn good possibility that I'm going to have to prepare a domestic response---- and given the nature of today's event, it will be horrible. On top of all this, I find out that there's an internal element that I had no idea existed, and somehow all of this is tied to the man that we've now placed under arrest for the third time."

Jack Bristow remained silent for a few seconds. "The moment I learned about what was going to happen today," he began "all I could think about was that I wasn't going to be able to protect my daughter. I could have been like Dixon and ordered her out of LA, but I know Sydney. She wouldn't have listened. So I focused on all the minutia of everything else connected with the bomb, and I tried not to worry about the fact that my daughter was not only in the middle of the greatest threat this country has faced in decades, but that she was doing under the supervision of a man that I despise."

Tony could understand some of Jack Bristow's agony, but this he couldn't just let go. "Then allow me to ask the most obvious question in history," he said. "What were you doing working with Sloane in the first place?"

Jack Bristow's expression didn't change (_God, here's another stone-face that I have to deal with_ Tony thought) but he could sense some genuine discomfort at this. "The reason that we were working with Sloane were complicated," he began.

"You know, whenever I ask someone why they're working with Sloane, they all begin their response that way," Tony looked at him. "Mr. Bristow, maybe there's a very good reason that the government gave Arvin Sloane, one of the greatest traitors in history, his own black-ops unit. All I know is that right now, the reasoning was fatally flawed. So I don't appreciate that in addition to all the messes that have been dumped in my lap, that I have to help clean this one up too."

There was another uncomfortable silence. "Mr. Almeida, it's obvious that we're never going to come to any kind of agreement on this," Bristow began slowly. "It's also clear that both of us still have a lot of work ahead us before we even think about sleeping. So, why don't you just tell me where they're holding Sloane, and I'll talk to you when I'm ready to proceed."

"He's in holding 3." Tony said shortly. He turned to Chloe, who had been watching this for the last minute or so. "Chloe, show Bristow to Arvin Sloane."

"I need to talk with Marshall—"

"Until this order is revoked, Marshall still works for us," Tony turned around. "For that matter, so do you." He walked upstairs.

"Follow me," Chloe said in a tone that was just as short. The two of them walked in silence, until they reached the door. "Let him in," she said to the guard at the door, and began to walk away.

"You're not staying?" Bristow said curiously.

"You don't need a babysitter, and I don't want to be one." Chloe didn't even wait for a response before heading back to the center of CTU.

Bristow showed the guard his ID, and was let in.

Sloane was still locked up. "I guess you must be enjoying this," he said without looking up

"Believe me, Sloane, I am getting no pleasure out of any of this."

"We've been at this a long time, Jack," Sloane said quietly. "Don't bother lying to me now."

The helicopter arrived less than ten minutes earlier, drawn to the flares that Sydney had fired. Now, as they flew out of the Mojave, she had spent the last couple of minutes trying to concentrate on what came next. She knew that she should be concerned about whether this was a Covenant plot and whether or not Sloane was involved in what happened today, but for some reason it was just becoming hard to care.

Internally, Syd knew what was happening. The adrenaline that had carried through the search for the bomb was draining out of her like so much sweat. Now her body, rather than dealing with the multitude of problems that awaited her back at CTU, was beginning to rebel. She knew that she needed to talk to someone, but radio service was crappy here in the middle of the desert.

"Agent Bristow," said the pilot. "The bomb goes off in less than thirty seconds. At this altitude, the explosion will be visible from the western horizon. I don't if you want to see it, but…."

"Are we a safe distance away?" Sydney asked.

"Yes."

Considering all she had done to make sure this hadn't happened, she knew that for the sake of George, she needed to see this. She looked out the window, and glanced at her watch. "Three... two… one."

And there it was, something that everyone who worked intelligence had hoped would never appear.

A mushroom cloud rising over American soil.

**10:59:57/10:59:58/10:59:59/11:00:00**


	16. 11:00 PM to 12:00 AM

**Chapter 16**

**The Following Takes Place Between 11:00 P.M. and 12:00 A.M.**

By coincidence or fate or whatever force controls these events—Jack and Nadia had reentered CTU exactly one minute before the bomb detonated. They were therefore right in the middle of the main work area when all the monitors in the unit were tuned to the satellite footage over the Mojave Desert.

Jack Bauer had seen a lot of horrible things in Special Forces, and the CIA, and while working at CTU. But none of that --- not even the horror that he had undergone when he had been cradling his wife's lifeless body in his arms---- prepared him for his reaction when he witnessed the early dawn created by a nuclear bomb.It was one thing to know that nuclear weapons existed, the desolation that they caused, and that other nations who were not friends of America possessed them. It was quite another to see one go off. The entire sky was lit as though there was a new sun in the sky.

He now realized that even though he had been helping locate the bomb for the last fourteen hours, it had still been an abstract concept, just one of those things you might hear about on the CIA daily briefing. The thing over the desert, though---- it was no abstraction. And seeing brought equal parts of shock, sorrow and anger to him --- shock that this had happened, sorrow for those who had died trying to stop it from happening, and anger at the people that had let it happen--- whoever they were, even if they were people in this unit. In a perverse way, he was also glad that he felt something like this--- it meant that his emotional synapses weren't dead after a year and a half of desolation.

It also meant that whoever was responsible was going to die.

"Well, I suppose I should be congratulating your promotion, but I've had your job, Tony. You're in for a lot of headaches."

Tony gave a small chuckle. "Thanks for your honesty, Marcus."

"I hate to add to your problems," Dixon said regretfully, " but I just had a long call with Hammond, who had a meeting with Justice."

"And?" Tony sighed, knowing what this might be about

"No one is quite sure what to with Nina Myers."

"That bullshit that she did when Sydney and Jack were taken hostage wasn't enough to violate her pardon?" Tony said exasperatedly.

"Not under the terms that the President negotiated," Dixon said. "She gave up all her sources, she was willing to work with anyone we specified, and her intel, no matter how indirect, did help us find the bomb."

"The President's going to be that big a stickler for the letter of the law, even when it involves Nina Myers?"

"If Myers gets a hold of a halfway decent attorney, she could cause any number of problems for the government."

"The woman always was a believer in the scorched earth policy," Tony admitted. "Look, as you can imagine, I've got a shitload of stuff deal with, so…. "

"I'll let you get back to work. Good luck."

Dixon hung up. Tony looked around for Marshall and saw that Nadia had come back, and was walking around with a look of major dismay on her face.

Though he knew he had burnt some major bridges with her, Tony decided to try and talk with Nadia. "Sydney radioed in a few minutes ago," he said softly. "She's on her way back to CTU."

A very small shadow passed from Nadia's face. "Good," She recovered a little "I'm sorry about what happened to George. He deserved better than what happened to him."

Tony looked genuinely unhappy for a moment. "No. No he didn't." He went back to business. "Weiss is in the medical unit being looked over---"

"Tony, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but there's no point in dancing around this." Nadia took a deep breath. "What are your plans in regards to my father?"

"Yeah, I got off the phone with Chapelle a few minutes ago," Tony turned to Jack. "There are potentials for all kinds of problems if this came out. Right now, Division wants to keep this internal, at least for now."

"What exactly is Sloane's status?" Nadia asked.

"Division's working that out too," her father said. "They don't want to him under arrest until they have enough to charge him with, and right now there's no concrete evidence, only hearsay."

"That's more than enough to bury a man."

"Nadia, I'm sorry, but I have to ask: do you think you should even be here?"

"I've been asking myself that question for a while."

Tony clearly didn't like this, but at that moment a brown-haired woman who Nadia couldn't place walked up to him: "Mr. Almeida, we're ready to give the preliminary reports."

"Thank you, Chloe." Tony turned back to Nadia. "Look, Jack Bristow is interrogating your father in Holding 3. I don't think you'd get much of out of it, but if you want to see him---"

"Tony, I appreciate your discretion, but you don't have try and sugarcoat things for me." Nadia shook her head. "You made it more than clear earlier today what you thought of my father, and now it would seem your worries have been more than borne out. I don't know what my intentions are, but I need to see him. Besides, it's not like there's anything that he can say that can hurt me any more."

**11:11:59/11:12:00/11:12:01/11:12:02**

Marshall" Tony said as he sat down "your team was responsible for analyzing the Cyprus audio."

"That's correct. " Marshall looked down at the papers on his desk."We began by taking voice samples of Sayed Ali and the three government officials whose voices were on the recording. I then broke down the elements of the voices--- the, uh, vocal equivalent of a fingerprint. We therefore, uh, concluded that these were, in fact, the voices of Ali and the officials in question."

"Now these voices could have been taken from other sources in order to fabricate this conversation."

"That's right, but most reconstruction always leave some kind of artifice, like a mismatched acoustic signal, or drastically altered cadences. There were no such artifacts on this recording," Marshall smiled nervously. "If anything I'd say this recording was a little too perfect."

"What are you talking about?" Chloe spoke up. "How can any recording be 'too perfect'?"

"Well, there were no cuts or breaks in any part of the recording," Marshall began. "Now normally any audio recording contains some background noise, or some kind of normal cuts. I didn't find any."

"This is a recording between a terrorist and three other men plotted the detonation of a nuke in America," Chloe said harshly. "Where do you think they'd meet, in a Starbucks?"

This rattled Marshall a little. " But for no background noise at all? For that, they would have needed to be having this conversation in a soundproof bunker or something. And for some reason, we never find any of these people in anyplace peaceful and quiet—either a market, or nightclub—APO has had to penetrate a lot of nightclubs, you'd think it was a requirement—"

"Marshall!" Vaughn called, snapping him out of it.

"Um, right. It's just that I know of a couple of next-gen audio guys in Australian intelligence who have been working on this kind of creative recording---"

"I know some of those people, too," Chloe pressed. "They're at least a year away from even running a capable program, much less the kind of recording you're talking about."

"Would the two of you please cut the bullshit?" Tony said, harshly. "Important decisions need to be made, and we can't waste time while the two of you talk shop." He turned to Marshall. "What is the possibility that this recording has been doctored?"

Subdued, Marshall answered. "I'd have to do a complete deconstruction of the recording word by word to be certain."

"And how long would that take?" Tony demanded.

"With access to the right resources, " Marshall mulled, "twelve hours."

"Why are you flittering all around this?" Chloe asked. "I've already had this analyzed by NSA, Langley and Defense. All three of them agreed that there was no way this recording could be a fake."

Tony was starting to get sick of the back and forth when Michelle entered the room. "I've just talked with Sayed Ali," she said slowly. "He denies that the recording is genuine. He says that it is a complete and utter fabrication and that he was in Berlin the day that the recording was made."

"And of course, a terrorist would never lie," Chloe said bluntly.

"I agree he has every reason to lie," Michelle admitted "but if there's any possibility that he's telling the truth we have to investigate."

"Mr. Almeida, isn't that enough reason for us to doubt that this recording is real?" Marshall pressed. "Isn't it worth spending a little more time?"

"Marshall, I know you're a legend back at Langley," Chloe said shortly "but even if you get your twelve hours, eventhen any evidence you got would most likely be inconclusive." She turned to Tony. "I've done a lot of the work Marshall has, and I'm sure that this recording is authentic."

Tony considered this. "I'll pass on all of your points of view when I make my report to the President." He stood up. "Until then, I think we're finished."

Tony, Chloe and the others left the room. Marshall got up last, a cloud of doubt covering his countenance.

**11:18:24/11:18:25/11:18:26**

If Sloane was at all surprised to see his daughter enter the interrogation room, his face gave nothing away. Nadia had gotten used to his sphinx-like gaze no matter how intense or upsetting the situation. She had never liked it, though, and now she found it very agitating.

Nadia stared at Sloane for a long time. "They didn't put you in handcuffs?" she said flatly.

"I'm not under arrest," Sloane said.

"Why not?" Nadia asked bluntly. "If you're guilty of even half the things you've been accused of, you should be gagged and manacled."

"Nadia, you've got to understand, the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you," Sloane said.

"That's an interesting remark, considering the first thing you did when we met was nearly kill me," Nadia said. "It's amazing, but that probably was the high point of our relationship."

"Nadia, let me explain." A note of what seemed to be agitation was entering Sloane's voice.

"Explain what? How you haven't committed treason, again? How you haven't conspired against the people in this office, again?" Nadia's voice rose an octave. "For God's sake, they have phone calls between you and Sherry Palmer on tape! How can that not be what it seems?"

"Nadia," Sloane seemed to have regained his control "when I was doing work with the foundation three years ago, I made contacts with a lot of people in high office."

"Oh, don't try that on me," Nadia said angrily. "At your most charitable, David Palmer wouldn't give you the time of day."

"He wouldn't, but Sherry Palmer would," Sloane said coolly. "She handled a lot of contacts that her husband would have considered unsavory. She's an incredibly ruthless and devious woman."

"And that's exactly the kind that you're drawn to," Nadia said viciously. _**"**_Did you sleep with her too?"

Sloane winced. "Nadia—"

"Maybe you want to tell me she was just using you? You never let anyone use you, not unless it fits your mission."

"Nadia, I'm trying to tell you---"

"Tell me what?" The contempt was gone from her tone; actual hatred was now oozing out. "That you're not a criminal, that you're motives were pure? Your motives are never pure. There's no charity in you. I knew that from the moment we met, and I still agreed to work with you. How big a fool am I?"

Sloane was actually turning even paler than he usually was. "Nadia, I know it doesn't seem like it, but there is an explanation here," he said.

"You don't get it," Nadia said bluntly. "I didn't come here to listen to you lie to me one last time, I came to tell you, we're done."

"Nadia!"

"I spent most of my life believing that my parents had abandoned me; apparently, I was correct." Nadia looked at Sloane. "You are nothing to me, you don't exist. When I walk out this door, you will never see me again. Not at your trial, not in prison, not when they strap you down. You are going to die as you lived, completely alone, with no one to miss or mourn you. Are we absolutely clear, _Arvin_?"

Nadia walked out the door before Sloane could even react. For a horrible instant, she thought she was going to cry. But the moment passed.

She had no tears for Arvin Sloane.

**11:23:36/11:23:37/11:23:38/11:23:39**

As Sydney walked back into CTU, she saw someone that she had honestly not expected to see again ---- Sayed Ali. The bloody and bruised Arab began to curse and struggle when he saw Sydney--- which was almost understandable, considering what she had helped do four hours ago. He kept up his torrent until the guards had escorted him around the corner.

Sydney assumed that the terrorist was being shipped off to Guantanamo. She also found that she didn't care much. She was convinced that Ali was nothing more than a pawn in a much larger game. And there were people in this office whom she was certain knew more about what was supposed to happen. She'd have to deal with them soon enough, but right now there were other people in this office whom Sydney cared more about.

As she walked into back into the building, she saw one of the most important, walking out of the medical center.

"Syd!" Vaughn practically ran the rest of the way across the room to embrace her. And even though this was a major breach of decorum, at this point in her day, Sydney could give a rat's ass what the people in this place thought.

After holding Vaughn long enough to remember another embrace that had taken place in another fallen installation four years ago, Syd whispered in Vaughn's ear: "I guess the personnel here are too polite to say: 'Get a room."

This managed to get a brief smile out of her lover, and he let her go. "And unfortunately too much has happened in the last few hours for us to just slip away into the night," Vaughn looked at Sydney, the smile dying. "In fact, if we did, I'm not sure where we'd report to tomorrow."

Sydney looked around. "Where's Sloane?" she asked.

"Your father's in the process of interrogating him."

"I suppose that it would be too much to hope for that he just confessed to being the mastermind behind what happened today." She looked at Vaughn. "What means are they using to question him?"

"When I last checked, your father hadn't progressed beyond standard Q and A." Vaughn looked back towards the interrogation room. "Not that it matters much, we know Sloane's background; pain and chemicals aren't going to get us much either."

"Unfortunately, no. But some pain would be good for him." Sydney began walking towards the holding area. "How's Nadia taking this?"

"She had some words with her father, then she went to see Weiss." Vaughn shook his head. "She hasn't said a word to anyone else.

"She went to the hospital?"

A smile appeared on Vaughn's face. "That's right, you didn't hear," Vaughn gestured towards the med center. "He came out of surgery two hours ago. The doctors say he's going to be all right. They transferred him to our facilities less than half an hour ago. I just came from seeing him."

"How's he doing?" Sydney asked.

"Little hazy from the anesthesia, but you know Eric. He was cracking jokes about how a person could come to like morphine."

"Good," Sydney looked around again for another familiar face. "Where's Jack Bauer?"

Vaughn looked around. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "I think he's with Michelle debriefing. I think this time, he's actually going to leave when it's done."

"I hope so."

Vaughn lowered his voice. "Syd, why'd did you go out with Mason on that last run?" he asked. "I mean it was very gutsy, but you just met Bauer this morning."

"I know," Sydney sighed.

Vaughn smiled. "Should I be jealous?"

That did it. Sydney almost laughed. "God no But after working all day with him, and seeing some of the obstacles he's had to overcome, I guess," she looked around, "I figured that he deserved another chance. He and I come at the world from different ways, but there isn't a lot of difference between us, with the exception that more people would have cared if I died today."

Vaughn didn't seem sure that he agreed, but he was spared from answering when another familiar face rushed up.

"Syd!" Marshall's seemingly usual state of agitation was accelerated by a sense of joyfulness. "Holy crap, I mean, they said, you were taking the bomb out, and then Nadia came back, and they took Sloane in, and then---"

"Marshall," Syd said calmly. "Breathe."

"Okay, okay." Marshall seemed to refocus. "It's just I'm glad to see you. I mean a lot's going on, Weiss came back, and I've been so busy analyzing the Cyprus audio I haven't had a chance to see him---"

"Hold on." Time had frozen for Sydney again. "What's the Cyprus audio?"

"Oh, it's the recording we found in Sayed Ali's safehouse that links the bombing to three nations in the Middle East."

"How sure are you of this recording's authenticity?" Sydney pressed.

"Well, actually there's, uh, been a certain amount of disagreement over it."

Sydney turned back to Vaughn. "Go to Tony Almeida, tell him to hold off transferring Ali to Guantanamo until I come back. Marshall, find Jack Bauer, tell him to meet me out front. Tell him it's a matter of national security."

Without even waiting for a response, Sydney ran outside.

**11:31:15/11:31:16/11:31:17**

In the broadest possible terms, Sydney got lucky when she went to look for Ali. The cordon of guards was taking Ali out to the truck using one of the back entrances. She caught up to them just as the CTU agent was about to hand him over to the Marines. Unfortunately, the Marines were less docile than Sydney had hoped.

"What do you mean, Almeida hasn't given me clearance?" she argued with the man in charge.

"Just give me a moment," the marine said patiently. However, the other marines were getting ready to push Ali in the truck. It took an aggravating thirty seconds before his hand made a waving motion.

"I have nothing to say to this woman," Ali said angrily.

"Sayed," Sydney had abruptly decided to change her tone. "You have every right to be angry at me and Agent Bauer. But the killing of your son was staged. If you want, we can arrange for you to talk to him in a few minutes. But we need to know whether or not you acted in concert with any other agency."

"What I told the other woman was true," Ali said without looking up or moving his mouth. "This was only a Second Wave job."

"I don't believe that, Sayed," Sydney said tersely. "You obviously worked with someone else. A recording wasplanted in your safehouse by someone who wants you to take the full weight for what happened today. If you tell us the truth, you can make some kind of deal with our government."

Ali remained taciturn.

"I know you detest me, but you also have to know I'm telling the truth now. Please help us."

There was a long silence. Ali was about to say something, when suddenly a shot rang out and a small bullet hole appeared in the head of the terrorist.

Sydney's reflexes were not slowed by her long day. She grabbed the other agent and knocked him to the ground. "We have shots fired on the northwest roof! Get on the radio to Almeida and Bauer and tell them that Sayed Ali has been shot and we've got a sniper on the roof!"

**11:35:40/11:35:41/11:35:42/11:35:43**

Bauer and Almeida had resurfaced around the same time. Tony looked more upset about what had happened than Jack Bauer did, but Sydney was guessing that was because Tony, being next in the chain of command, was going to bare the brunt for what had just happened. Bauer, who had a modestly higher appreciation of the consequences, was probably just as upset but had a better way of keeping his cards close to the vest.

"I just got off the line with LAPD," he said, as he walked over to Sydney. "The perimeter's been set up."

"How the hell did they know we were moving Ali?" Tony demanded.

"Half the intelligence community knew we had him in custody," Jack pointed out. "The leak could've come from anywhere."

"Look, at this point I don't think it matters _how _the information got out," Sydney said. "What matters is why Ali was shot. It has to have to do with what he was about to tell me."

"And what was that?" Tony asked.

"What organizations and countries were really involved," Sydney looked at Tony. "Whoever those people were, they're the ones who had the Cyprus audio engineered."

"What makes you so certain that it's a fake?" Tony asked.

Sydney looked at Tony as if he were a fool. "Because I talked with Marshall a few minutes ago, and he believes it's possible," she told him.

"Sydney, I appreciate loyalty as much as the next guy," Tony said doubtfully, "but every other expert we have, including a couple of our own, say the tape is genuine."

"If Marshall could look at the Zapruder film, and say that there was definitive evidence in it that Oswald acted alone," Sydney said confidently, "I'd be willing to set aside all my years of disbelief and say the case was closed."

"Tony, there's more to it than that," Jack added, "Less than seven hours ago, Agent Bristow and I were abducted, drugged and tortured by men who have to have some connection to what's going on today. The one question they asked over and over is what does our government know about Cyprus?"

_That _shook Tony in the way his apparent distrust of Marshall hadn't. "Why didn't you tell us that was what they were talking about that?" he demanded.

"Because we were busy finding the bomb," Jack said. "Right now, we have to believe this is false."

"What did you tell the President about your findings?" Sydney demanded of Tony.

"I told Lynn Kresge that while the information we had suggested that the Cyprus audio was not definitive, there was a small possibility that the tape had been forged," Tony admitted. "I listed the margin of error at five percent."

"That doesn't sound like a lot of leeway," Bauer pointed out.

"Yeah, well I've just spent the last fifteen minutes talking with the major intelligence and military agency there is," Tony said. "That's the highest margin of anyone else." He lowered his voice. "Furthermore, I called Dixon, and apparently almost every other agency is preparing for some kind of military scenario."

"I wouldn't exactly call that newsworthy," Sydney argued.

"No, but it does seem to indicate that there's a lot of hawkishness about hitting back," Jack said thoughtfully. "A lot of people in our government are going to want to bomb the hell out of somebody because of what happened today."

"How do you think the President will handle this?" Sydney asked.

"The President isn't the kind of man who will start a war based on false information," Tony said, "but in order to go against the military shouting, he's going to need some kind of definitive proof that the Cyprus audio is a forgery."

"Ali's assassination isn't evidence enough?" Sydney said.

"Not by itself, no."

There was a moment of thinking between the three of them. "If the Cyprus audio is a fake," Tony began, "how would we go about proving it?"

"Before I came back to CTU, I was convinced that the Covenant was behind today's attack," Sydney said. "I'm now certain of it."

"You've mentioned that a couple of times," Jack said. "But you haven't been able to tell me _why _they would be involved in the first place."

"I've been trying to figure that part out," Syd admitted. "I know a lot about how the Covenant operates, but I can't figure out how they benefit from the U.S. going to war in the Middle East."

Jack thought for a few seconds. "What are the Covenant's interests in the Middle East?"

"I talked with Dixon about this a couple of hours ago." Tony said. "According to him, there are no obvious Covenant links to that area."

"Which leads me to believe that there must be some deeper link with them that we haven't been able to find yet," Sydney said. "Perhaps they're internal, deeper within the inner workings within the countries."

"Why are we dicking around with hypotheticals?" A grim expression appeared on Jack's face. "You've got someone in custody with ties to them right now," he said, and started walking towards the entrance.

"Whoa, whoa, " Sydney quickly caught up with him. "Arvin Sloane wouldn't give a drink of water to a dying man in the Sahara, and he's not going to help no matter how hard you press him."

"I think we both know that I'm not going to appeal to that part of his nature."

By now, Sydney had gotten in front of Bauer. "Jack, I'm not going to deny you've got more field and interrogation experience than me, but I've been dealing with Sloane before he was a blip on your radar. He's not Nina Myers or Marie Warner; he doesn't break, bend or spindle under any kind of pressure, and there's no way you could scare him."

"That's wrong," Jack stated simply.

Syd was tempted to hurt him. "I've known him for—"

"Then you must have ignored something," Bauer interjected. "I know the name Rimbaldi has to do with him, right?"

Bristow rolled her eyes. Milo Rimbadli was the last name she wanted to hear today…or any other day, for as long as she lived. "He was obsessed with him. And when I mean obsessed, I mean that if he were alive today, Sloane would be stalking him."

"Exactly. I had some friends look into Sloane's deal with the government." Off Syd's incredulous glance, he added, "Yes, I have friends. He gave up his entire collection of Rimbaldi artifacts to get out of the death penalty. No matter what he says, he's scared of death. Possibly terrified. The only people who don't fear death are the ones who have something to die for, or who no longer have a reason to live. Does Sloane really care enough about anyone outside of himself? Enough to die for them?"

"Nadia," Sydney automatically replied, then hesitated. "But no, if he cared for her as much as he pretended…ever…he wouldn't have been involved with the nuke in the first place. But still, let us handle him…first. Okay?"

For a long moment, Sydney was pretty sure that Bauer was just going to shove her aside, and try and break Sloane his way. Then, reluctantly, he turned from his path. "How exactly are we going to get past him?" he asked in a dangerously low tone.

"Right now, my father is interrogating him. I'm going to join him. Given the nature of our relationship with him, there's a possibility that we might be able to get something out of him that CTU can't." Sydney paused. "But gentlemen, I'm telling you right now, that the two of you had better begin using the resources of this agency to find another way into the Covenant, because Arvin Sloane has trained his entire life in deception. Even if we get something out of him, it's not going to be enough to prove anything. I'm pretty sure the President knows that."

With that Sydney walked the rest of the way to the interrogation room, and swiped her ID card to get inside.

**11:48:04/11:48:05/11:48:06/11:48:07**

Considering that he'd taken a bullet in a chest less than six hours ago, that he'd undergone major surgery and had come out of the anesthesia less than an hour ago, it said something about Eric Weiss that right now he was more concerned about Nadia. He knew that part of this was just his mind trying to get his attention off the dull pain in his chest, but part of was just his nature.

"Not that I'm not enjoying the company," he asked slowly, "but don't they need you out there?"

"Why should they?" Nadia said in a forced joviality. "We managed to stop the nuclear attack."

"Then why are you talking about it as if Argentina had just advanced to the second round of the World Cup?" Weiss probed.

Nadia tried to smile. "I'm sorry. I'm just… feeling a little crisis lagged, I guess," she said.

"Uh-huh," Weiss said. "And this has nothing to do with the fact that your father's being held in custody?" Before Nadia had time to react, he added: "I heard one of the security guards talking about it, when they thought I was unconscious."

Nadia dropped the faux cheerfulness. "He lied to me," she said simply. "I don't know why this should surprise me--- after all, he does it for a living--- but I had started to trust him again. I thought we were done with our deceptions."

"Nadia, I'm sorry about---"

"Please don't say 'You're sorry.'" Now there was some anger in her voice. "Everybody in the agency has been marking time, waiting for my father to betray his country, so don't insult my intelligence and say you didn't want this!"

Weiss tried to rise up in his bed, but couldn't fight back a grimace of pain as he did so. This immediate provoked a reaction in Nadia. "Eric, for God's sake! Don't hurt yourself to prove a point!"

"It's not so bad," Weiss said.

"Yeah, and I'm not upset."

Both smiled at the absurdity of the situation. "Look, I know what you're trying to do, but you shouldn't be focused on me right now." Nadia touched Weiss' hand. "I'll leave you to rest."

"Nadia," Weiss said as she walked away. "There are still people in this world who care about you."

"I know," Nadia said.

Jack Bauer had been waiting outside the medical center. He knew that what he was going to ask Nadia was going to be difficult, so he had decided to give her a few minutes of peace first. Right now, he felt that time was not as great an enemy as it had been before. Let her rest a little before she has to make some more difficult choices.

"Nadia," Jack said as she emerged.

"I thought you were going home," she gently suggested.

"I was," Jack said. "Something pressing came up."

"Something pressing always comes up, Agent Bauer," Nadia said sadly. "Maybe you should learn how to walk away."

Before Jack could answer, his phone rang. "Give me a minute," he said, as he took out his phone. "Bauer."

There was a pause. "Hello Jack." The voice on the other end was low and amused. It was also that of a woman.

"Who is this?" Jack said wearily.

"The only person who can prove that Sayed Ali wasn't in Cyprus talking with representatives of three Arab nations last April. In case you haven't figured it out, the recording is a forgery."

Jack forced himself only to think on what we being discussed, not the ramifications. "How do you know that?"

"Because I killed the man who planted it."

"You're lying." Jack stated.

"Six-four? Dark brown eyes? Coral snake tattooed on his forearm? Pretty sure I got him. "

Jack looked around. Nadia was looking at him with interest now. "And how exactly did you kill him?"

"The same way I took out his fellow soldiers at Norton, and the same way I took out Joseph Wald. Give me a rifle and enough ammunition, and I can move the world--- or at least the right people. Both times I had the chance to kill you and I didn't. You're_** a **_very impressive man, Mr. Bauer. Any man who survived what happened today is the kind of person I can deal with."

"What do you mean, 'deal with'?" Jack demanded.

"I'm prepared to give you the source recording which irrevocably proves that what they have at CTU is fake."

"And what do you want in exchange?" Bauer asked doubtfully.

"Arvin Sloane."

"My access to CTU is limited and Sloane's being held prisoner," Jack said angrily. "There's no way that I can just bring him to you!"

"That is a complication. Because of this, I'll call you back in thirty minutes with a time and location." Her tone brooked no argument. "You're a resourceful individual. Find a way."

Before Jack could say anything else, the line went dead.

**11:55:25/11:55:26/11:55:27**

"Jack?" Nadia touched his shoulder. He had been so wrapped up in the phone call, he had almost forgotten she was here. "Who was that on the phone?"

"I don't know," Jack admitted.

"Okay, here's an easier question: why did he ask you to bring him Sloane?"

Jack's automatic reaction would have been to correct Nadia about the gender of the caller. The problem was a couple of synapses had just fired in his head, and he had gotten a very clear idea of who it was he might have just had a conversation with. "I don't know that either," he admitted. "What I do know is that I need to talk with your father right now."

Jack Bauer all but ran across the room back to holding room 3, hardly noticing as Nadia matched paces with him. "Open it," he almost snarled at the guard.

The guard knew enough not to challenge Bauer---- not even when Bauer reached for his gun before he crossed the entryway.

"Agent Bauer, what are you doing here?" Sydney demanded.

"What do you know about the Cyprus audio?" Jack ordered Sloane, as he put his gun on the traitor forehead.

"Jack, for Christ's sake, we discussed this!" Sydney began walking around.

"What do you know?" Jack insisted, as he pulled back the trigger.

"You're wasting your time, Agent Bauer," Nadia said tiredly. "Just look at his face."

Jack did look--- and saw Sloane, looking not at all discomfited by the fact he was this close to get a bullet in the brain.

"Yours isn't the first gun I've had pointed at me," Sloane said

Jack smiled evilly. "No, but I'm the only one who hasn't really needed you alive."

"What the fuck is this about?" Sydney asked calmly.

"I just got a phone call from someone who is willing to trade proof undeniable that the Cyprus audio was forged," Jack said. "The price was Arvin Sloane." He paused, shrugged, and cracked Arvin across the temple with the barrel of his gun. "And I've wanted to do that for at least twelve hours."

"Do you have any idea who this person was?" The voice was unfamiliar. Bauer looked up to see a grey haired man in a suit, who looked roughly the same age as Sloane.

"I'm more interested in knowing why you won't simply tell us what 'he' wanted," Nadia said slowly, "and why you've been so generic in your pronouns. I think the reason you have is because a woman called you, and the reason you didn't say that straight out, is because you think you know who it is."

Bauer looked to the man in the suit. "Bristow?"

Syd's father nodded. "Last time I checked."

He glanced to Syd. "Obviously, you take after your mother." Jack really did not want to tell these people what he believed. He also he knew he didn't have a choice. "Granted I've only her voice to go on," he said, "but given what's happened today, I think there is a high probability the person who called me was Irina Derevko. "

And for the first time today, Sydney actually paled a little. So did Nadia. Neither of the other men in the room even blinked.

"I can categorically state that's not possible," the unidentified man finally said.

"How do you know that?" Bauer demanded.

"Six months ago, I killed her."

**11:59:57/11:59:58/11:59:59/12:00:00**


	17. 12:00 AM to 1:00 AM

Chapter 17

**The Following Takes Place Between 12 A.M. and 1 A.M.**

When he had still been running CTU, Jack Bauer had been briefed on other operations that might pertain to the Los Angeles office. He had therefore been aware of the manipulations that Irina Derevko had put the CIA through when she had resurfaced a little less than four years ago, and had subsequently known who Jack Bristow was. However, he had been so wrapped up in his own shit today that he had not realized who Sydney was--- and by continuation of that theme, who her mother must have been.

After Sydney's father had revealed that Irina Derevko was dead, Jack evaluated the expressions of everybody in the room. Nadia was so overwhelmed by what she had heard that she had to put both of her hands on the interrogation table. Sydney had paled a little, but she seemed to be handling the fact that her father had murdered her mother a little too well, which indicated to Jack that she had known about this before her father had made his revelation.

"I think you had better explain," Jack said calmly.

"A little less than a year ago I learned that someone had ordered my daughter assassinated," Mr. Bristow said simply. "After weeks of work, I eventually learned that the hit was ordered by Irina Derevko. In order to protect my daughter's life, I tracked her down and put a bullet in her brain." Sydney's father's utter detachment in discussing this was a little unsettling even to a man like Jack. "She is dead, Mr. Bauer. I don't know who called you, but it was not Sydney's mother."

Jack knew he had to answer that. "Really, Mr. Bristow," he said calmly. "How sure are you of this?"

"This is not the kind of thing I would make a mistake on," Mr. Bristow said coldly.

"Are you familiar with a scientific project known as Helix?" Jack asked.

"Very much so, Mr. Bauer, and I can tell you that both of the test subjects of this experiment are dead."

"Really?" Jack said, "Then how do you explain that five hours ago at a Chatsworth mosque, we found two men who were both perfect physical matches to Sayed Ali?"

Mr. Bristow maintained his icy reserve but Jack was pretty sure this had unsettled him a bit. "I didn't know that," he admitted. "Are we sure that you interrogated the right one?"

"Considering that now both men have been killed, the question is moot," Jack admitted. "What is not is that there is a legitimate possibility that Irina Derevko is alive."

By now Sydney seemed to have recovered from the paralysis that had seized her. "Actually, technically speaking, it isn't relevant if the person that you talked to is or is not Irina Derevko," she said, only sounding a little shook up. "What is pertinent is whether or not we trade this individual Arvin Sloane in exchange for proof that the Cyprus audio is a fraud. To which I can only answer, are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Sydney---" Jack started.

"No, Jack, " Sydney said coldly. "I know that I'm the one who told you we needed to find another way to come up with evidence, but this is not acceptable. Sloane has betrayed this nation a thousand times over, and you're now seriously considering handing him over, possibly to the same people behind today's attack?"

Nadia had been gripping the table harder and harder the longer this conversation had gone on. Now she finally snapped. "These people could kill him," she said quietly. "No, scratch that, they probably will. I'm so glad that the same people who decided my mother's fate are now in the process of deciding what's going to happen to my father."

"Nadia---"

"No, Sydney." Nadia was definitely angry now. "You want to hold my hand? Comfort me in my time of woe? This isn't the thing that our family does. We lie and we murder, and we say the compassionate things that family's supposed to, but we're spies first, everything else second."

She rushed out of the room. Sydney started after her. "We're not finished here," Jack began.

"Let her go, Agent Bauer," Mr. Bristow said. "Ultimately the authority to move Arvin Sloane falls under my confluence, and you need to prove to me that this trade is in the best interests of the country."

"You don't think getting evidence that exonerates the nations implicated in the Cyprus audio is in the best interests of the country?" Jack said incredulously.

"I agree with Mr. Bristow." Both Jacks turned around to see that Tony had just entered the room. "Sloane's a lit stick of TNT; anyone that you hand him to is going to use him to cause more destruction. We might be able to stop a war in the Middle East, but there could be worldwide implications in just handing him over to some foreign power."

Jack Bauer seemed stymied by what he was hearing. Then he reached for his phone. "The final authority doesn't rest with you," he said.

"Hey, Chapelle will shoot you down after three words," Tony said.

Mr. Bristow had a clearer idea of what was planned. "He's not going to call Division."

"This is Jack Bauer," Jack said. "I need you to put me through to the President."

**12:09:40/12:09:41/12:09:42/12:09:43**

They took Sloane to another holding room as everyone was in agreement that he didn't need to hear this.

"And put it on speaker, Jack," Sydney ordered Bauer. "I saw what you did the last time the President called you; you don't get to dance around this if you get an answer you don't like."

"I thought you were going after Nadia," her father responded.

"Right now, this is more important," Sydney said harshly, "and damn you all for making me choose."

"Please hold for the President of the United States," the operator said.

"Jack," said President Palmer. "You're also on with Mike Novick and Lynn Kresge. First, let me commend you for all of the good work you've done today."

"Thank you, Mr. President." There was a note of gratitude in Bauer's voice that Sydney hadn't heard all day. "I wish I could tell you that the crisis has been resolved, but I believe we may be facing another problem."

"Does this have to do with the Cyprus audio, Jack?"

"Yes, sir, I can now say that confidence is high that the tape was manufactured."

"We've already been informed that CTU has doubts about the tape's authenticity," another man's voice (Sydney assumed it was Novick) spoke up. "Are you now saying that you may have more concrete evidence?"

"That's correct." Now came the hard sell. "Fifteen minutes ago, I received a phone call from someone who claimed that they had evidence that would definitely prove the Cyprus audio had been forged. They said that they would only make this deal if I would bring them a certain individual."

"Who do they want?"

"They want Arvin Sloane, sir."

There was a long pause. When President Palmer spoke again, his voice was a lot harder. "Jack, there are all kinds of reasons why this trade is a bad idea."

"Mr. President, to be blunt, less than twelve hours _**a**_go you were willing to grant a full pardon to a woman who was in part responsible for the attempt on your life," Jack argued.

"Not to diminish all the crimes she's committed, Mr. Bauer, but Nina Myers is not Arvin Sloane." Mike Novick said calmly. "Do you have any idea who this person is?"

"The individual didn't identify themselves."

Jack was really hedging his bets. Sydney thought if the President had heard the words 'Irina Derevko' mentioned in the same sentence as 'Arvin Sloane', he would have said 'No' right then. The only reason she didn't mention it at that moment was because she didn't think she'd have to. If the President hadn't allowed the execution of innocent children when there was a nuclear threat, he sure as hell wasn't going to let this go through.

"But you believe that this individual has something to do with today's attack," Novick said.

"Yes, sir, I believe they were," Jack said, "I'm also fairly certain that this same organization wants you to make some kind of military strike the countries implicated in the recording. This may be our only chance to prove otherwise."

The President considered this. "Is there anyone else on the line?" he asked.

At this point Tony spoke up. "Yes, Mr. President. I'm here along with Jack and Sydney Bristow. The two of them have more experience of dealing with Sloane than anyone else here."

"Mr. Almeida," a female voice--- Kresge, Sydney assumed--- added her opinion. "The President has held off planning a time frame on any kind of military action, mainly because CTU is the only agency that isn't convinced the Cyprus audio isn't genuine."

"That's correct."

"How much time would you need to prove otherwise?"

"We're not sure," Tony admitted. "Our main tech is in the process of completely dissecting the recording and trying to find an audio signature. But he admits even if we devote all our resources to proving it, it could take days."

"How certain are your techs that this would be definitive?" the President asked.

"They're not." Tony said. "Sir, there's a lot of technical jargon I could use to phrase this, but the bottom line is, there are some people out there who might have the technology to get around our best methods."

"So, in your opinion, we can't get definitive proof any other way."

Sydney nearly forgot who she was on the line with when she spoke up. "Sir, even if this were the only option, if the price is Arvin Sloane, they're asking too much."

"I'm not suggesting we merely hand Sloane over," Jack said. "We can place tracking devices on him and use them to track whoever it is that's behind today's attack."

"Don't you think it's likely that this person"—for some reason, even Mr. Bristow was avoiding the correct pronoun—"knows about our tracking systems and can find a way to get around them? That's making the assumption are devices were perfect, which they're not."

Jack knew that this was an uphill battle, but he didn't even slow down. "Mr. President, the force behind today's attack is most likely the Covenant," he argued. "Sayed Ali, Mamoud Faheen, everyone else connected with today's attack is dead. Now, correct me if I'm wrong," he turned to face the Bristow_s_, "but Arvin Sloane hasn't given us anything in interrogation. And if he's anything like the man I've been told about, he never will."

Mr. Bristow stared at Jack for a long moment before turning to the phone. "That's true," he finally said.

"We have no other leads, nothing, to connect the Covenant to today's attack," Jack continued. "Making this trade may be our only chance to catch these people. I admit there are risks, but in the case I believe that the ends justify them."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a long moment. "Where is Sloane?" the President finally asked.

Of all the potential responses, Sydney had not expected this. Jack was clearly thrown by it a little. "We didn't think it was in his interest to hear this," he said.

"Bring him in. I want him to hear this." The President's tone brooked no argument.

**12:18:59/12:19:00/12:19:01**

Tony and Mr. Bristow had made sure that everything was secure and Sloane was still bound and chained. "He's here, Mr. President," Tony said.

"Arvin Sloane, this is President Palmer. Don't say anything, just listen." If the President had been cold before, his tone was positively arctic now. "Today, America was attacked, and though the evidence is shaky I suspect, as has been the case on so many occasions, you know more about it then you've revealed. Because I believe it would be a wasted effort to get the truth out of you, and because I believe that at the current time preventing this military conflict is more important than whatever value to this government you might still have, I am reluctantly going to agree with Jack Bauer and make this exchange. But let me make something absolutely clear, Mr. Sloane, if we manage to lose track of you, I will make it the sole business of my administration to make sure that you are tracked down and pay in full for every single crime that you have or will have committed. Is that absolutely clear?"

Sloane didn't even look up when he answered. "Yes, Mr. President," in a barely audible whisper.

"I realize that this is not going to be a popular decision with anyone," the President said. "I will therefore take full responsibility for going along with this with the heads of intelligence and the Joint Chiefs. However, I suggest that CTU do everything in its power to make sure nothing goes wrong. How long until this person calls back?"

"Could be any minute," Jack said.

"In this case, I'll leave to your preparations. Godspeed to all of you."

The President hung up.

**12:22:45/12:22:46/12:22:47/12:22:48**

Like almost every decision that had ever been made involving Sloane, Sydney was incredibly upset with the President's choice. She had every intention of making this thing work, but she had no intention of being nice about it.

"I notice you didn't tell the President that you think Irina Derevko is the one asking for Sloane," she pointed out to Jack as she waited with him for the call. "Any particular reason you omitted that detail?"

"For one thing, I'm not a hundred percent sure it is your mother," Jack said. "And I'm not being facetious; all I know for certain is that I was called by a woman. You know as well as I do there are a lot of female traitors out there. Besides, you neglected to bring that up, either.

This was a valid point, but Sydney knew that it didn't change much. "True, but whoever she is,she's Covenant. For all we know this is a plan to get their hands on Sloane."

"In that case, I'd think you'd be glad we were making this trade." Jack said promptly.

"What kind of bizarro logic is that?"

"If the Covenant wants Sloane, that means they know he's under suspicion. The only reason they'd want him back is to kill him. And that's what you really want to happen to him, isn't it?"

There was a grain of truth in that, but only a microscopic one. Sloane's potential value to any organization was so great that whoever wanted him would suck him dry before he was killed. Sydney was about to point out the flaw in logic when Jack's phone rang.

Jack only let it ring once before picking up. "Bauer."

"Bring Sloane to the aqueduct near the Sixth Street Bridge in twenty minutes," the female voice said. "And Mr. Bauer, if I so much as see a hint that you've brought the government into this, you will never see me."

"How will I know it's you?" Jack asked.

"You'll know." The caller disconnected.

"What's the location?" Syd asked.

"The aqueduct near the Sixth Street Bridge in twenty minutes."

"All right then," Sydney said. "Let's get Sloane and prepped and get this over with."

"The caller was very specific that I come alone," Jack said firmly.

"They always are," Sydney said. "But if you honestly think I'm going to let you walk out that door alone, you're crazier than I thought you were."

"Sydney---"

"No, I have been through too much with this man to just let him be walked out the door with a handshake." Sydney was steaming now. "One way or another this business with Sloane ends tonight."

Jack looked at Sydney strangely. "This afternoon you talked me out of killing Nina Myers because you told me my rage wasn't worth it," he argued. "Now you want to kill Sloane for the same reasons."

"The rules are different for Arvin Sloane," Sydney said. "You should know that much by now."

Jack gave her a small, almost amused smile, filled with traces of sadness. "Of course they are. But, then, you promised me you'd help hunt Nina down if she escaped. He offered her his hand. "I'm making you the same promise. One way or another, Arvin Sloane will die.

She took his hand and shook it.

**12:27:36/12:27:37/12:27:38**

Sydney walked back into the main room. "Have they got the trackers on Sloane?" Sydney asked Vaughn.

"Chloe's in the middle of it," Vaughn sounded about as happy as Sydney felt. "We have a location for this meeting?"

Sydney nodded. "Tell Marshall we're going to need satellite coverage of the Sixth Street Bridge."

"This is a shitty idea," Vaughn said.

"The President has okayed the trade; our hands are tied." Sydney said. "We may hate it, but we're going to have to live with it." _Like we always do with Sloane, _she thought but managed to resist saying.

"Lower your head," Chloe said.

Sloane didn't say anything.

Chloe was silent, but realizing an opportunity like this almost never came along, she asked: "So tell me, what government officials do you have compromising photos of?"

She had to give Sloane credit; he didn't even blink. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said flatly.

"The only way you could have gotten the number of pardons you have is if you have dirt on someone important," Chloe said bluntly. "I'm just wondering who."

Sloane didn't turn around, but his voice got harder. "If I were you, I'd do my job instead of wasting time asking questions, you know you won't get answered."

She gave him a frown. "You know, for someone who's getting away with mass murder, you really should be more cheerful."

Chloe merely placed the tracker as close to a scar on the back of Sloane's neck as she could manage.

"Watch it," Sloane said, with a hint of irritation.

"Like I care."

Sloane turned to face her. "You know, there are some people who say that I murder people's entire families for irritating me."

She gave him a sour look. "Look, Mr. Sloane, I have no family, I work with plenty of people who want to see you dead, and I'm reasonably certain that I can beat you up right now, and I'm only a computer nerd. Save your threats for someone who thinks you're more threatening than the next door neighbor's annoying Chihuahua."

Sloane blinked. He wasn't used to that. He was spared further embarrassment as Jack Bauer entered the room.

"I've finished placing the trackers; one on the underside of his watch, the other under the neck."

"You using the radioactive dye?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, there's no way they'll be able to remove it with anything short of micro-laser surgery." Chloe said.

"On your feet," Jack said.

Sloane obeyed without argument.

Sydney walked in. "We should have satellite up by the time we get to aqueduct," she said. "Tony and the others have been brought to speed. They'll be waiting for our orders."

"All right, let's get this over with," Jack said as she walked onto the other side of Sloane.

The two of them began to walk over to the garage, Sydney on Sloane's left side, Jack on Sloane's right.

It seemed like everyone in CTU was watching as they marched the most infamous man in the building out. The dirty looks that Jack Bristow and Michael Vaughn were both shooting him would have been enough to burn holes in the right side of Sloane's skull. But as always, Sloane remained stoic, as if he was headed to a cocktail party.

No one noticed that while this was going on, Nadia had gone over to the area where Sydney had been working, gone through her purses until she found her sister's car keys. Then she headed out the front door to the CTU parking lot.

**12:33:01/12:33:02/12:33:03/12:33:04**

No model CTU vehicle was equipped for three passengers in the front. Jack therefore elected to drive the car to the meeting point, while Sydney remained in the backseat, keeping both eyes on Sloane.

The mood in the car was tenser then it had been all day. Sydney had no attention of making things easier, but suddenly something occurred to her.

"All right, Arvin, the clock literally has almost run out on you," Sydney muttered. "In less than fifteen minutes, I suspect that I'm going to learn from the source the full extent of your involvement in what happened today. This is your last chance to give me your side of the story. Mitigate your role. Wrap yourself in the flag."

"You know me so well, Sydney." It was very irritating how calm Sloane was. "Based on everything that's come between us, what makes you so sure I'd tell you the truth now? What possible reason could convince me?"

Sydney paused for a moment. "For the rest of her life, Nadia's going to have to operate under the veil of doubt and suspicion that comes with having your father being a traitor. I thought that maybe you'd want to give her some kind of explanation."

Sloane winced. It was almost an imperceptible twitch but for a man who maintained a stone face, Sydney realized she'd finally touched a nerve "My daughter has made it very clear she wants nothing more to do with me, Sydney," he said softly.

Until now Jack had kept his eyes focused on the horizon. Now he spoke up. "Sometimes you don't do something because of what your daughter says. Nadia's going to have a lousy life no matter what you do. You owe her some sort of explanation, even if she never hears it."

As was always the case, Sydney was never sure what had triggered Sloane. All she knew was he began to talk.

"Three months ago, not that long after President Palmer was sworn in, I received a call from Eric Raeburn at NSA. He played a substantial role in both of my---" Sloane paused "negotiations with the government. In both, he implied that in exchange for my pardon, the NSA might call on me to play roles in undesirable actions. Those were the exact terms he used." Sydney did not react. "When he called, he informed me that President Palmer plans to reorganize the military and intelligence networks in the country. This was unacceptable under current guidelines and would have to be countermanded."

Sydney had heard a lot of stories from Sloane over the years, but this one almost took the cake. "You're telling me NSA was working to undermine the President," she said disbelievingly

For a moment, some of Sloane's arrogance returned. "This kind of backroom thing has been going on for years, Sydney," he said quietly. "Some governments are just subtler than others. In any case, Raeburn's manipulations of me were outright brazen. He told me that Palmer had never approved of my pardon and was looking for reasons to revoke it. Unless I wanted to be painted more visible in his government, I had to be part of the force weakening it."

"So you just went along with it." Sydney said angrily.

"Of course not! I contacted Director Chase at CIA and informed her of what was going on. She informed me that she believed the cancer in the intelligence agencies were far more advanced then I imagined. It wasn't just Raeburn who was opposing the President, it was Director Stanton. God knew how many other agencies were involved."

An ugly picture was forming in Sydney's head--- not quite the one Sloane was painting, though. "Let me guess what happened next." Sydney said. "Considering the level of corruption in the government and the fact that your scruples have been ambiguous at the best of times, Chase asked if you'd be willing to work as a double agent to aid the government against the evils that plagued it."

"You may laugh at the concept, Sydney, but I am loyal to this country."

"So what did your 'co-operation' consist of?" Sydney said dismissively.

"I had a series of meetings with other agents to see who was recruitable and with other people who were already involved."

"With whom?"

"People within DOD, Justice, NSA--- people I had established relationships with."

"Was Sherry Palmer one of them?"

Sloane nodded. "Stanton knew that I had had contact with her through my foundation. When the President announced that he was divorcing his wife, well --- I don't have to tell you about the fury of a woman scorned. When I contacted her, I didn't even have to persuade her; that's how angry she was."

"What about today's attack?" Sydney demanded. "How much did you know in advance?"

For a moment Sydney thought Sloane was going to crap around. "I heard about it a week ago through one of Stanton's intermediaries. My assignment was to help delay locating the bomb until the Coral Snake team found it." Sloane shook his head. "Sydney, you have to believe me, that bomb was never supposed to go off…"

"If all of this true," Jack asked skeptically, "and you really haven't done anything wrong why didn't Director Chase come to your aid when Sherry Palmer gave you up?"

There was a long pause. "I don't know," Sloane admitted. "I figured she would have called Mr. Almeida the second that I was taken into custody. The fact she hasn't probably means that someone else within the agency has decided to offer me up as the sacrificial lamb."

"Because, you're everybody's favorite boogeyman, and there's always something bigger behind you." Sydney had heard enough. "That is quite a story. I don't know how much of its true, and you know what, I don't care. I realize that the why ultimately doesn't matter. Knowingly or unknowingly, you helped commit treason. And now, one way or the other, you now have to pay the final reckoning. My one regret is I probably won't see it."

Sloane looked at her. "I wouldn't have thought it possible that you could be so cold," he said.

"I wasn't once," Sydney said. "That's on you, too."

**12:42:38/12:42:39/12:42:40/12:42:40**

Jack drove the CTU vehicle into an alley about two blocks away from the aqueduct. Once there, he turned off the engine, got outside and popped open the back doors.

Sydney's eyes narrowed as he pulled out one of the compartments to reveal a cache of assault weapons and ammo. "You bring along this kind of package every time you show a girl the town?" she said, only half in jest.

Jack just fixed her with a look.

"How do you want to play this?" she asked seriously, as he took out several clips of ammo, and a radio set.

"Stay here with Sloane. When I'm convinced that this woman is legitimate, I'll radio you in."

"You think it's wise to screw around with…" Sydney trailed off. "This woman?" she finished weakly.

"If this is Irina Derevko, or for that matter, if it isn't, I'm not just going to hand over Arvin Sloane unless I get confirmation that she has what she's talking about," Jack pointed out. "Did you really think that I'd give away Sloane without guaranteeing something in return? I didn't even consider doing that to Nina until she stopped being useful, and you know how much more personal she is."

Sydney half-wondered if that was a shot at her and her previous argument against the exchange.

Jack continued "Besides, there's no proof that I couldn't be walking into a trap."

Sydney sighed. Anyfurther argument would be a waste of time. "Then you better get moving. And Jack," she added. "I know you must be sick of hearing this, but be careful."

"I always am."

"Really?" Sydney raised an eyebrow. "Jack, I went to a tremendous amount of effort to keep you alive two hours ago. I'd really prefer that it wasn't merely a stalling tactic."

Jack gave her no verbal reassurance. He only smiled as he walked away. Syd figured this was better than nothing.

Even though it wasn't that late at night, Jack didn't see any civilians as he trotted over to the Sixth Street Bridge. He wasn't sure whether this was a positive or a negative. The Covenant had shown no mercy in murdering civilians in their efforts earlier, and he didn't want there to be additional collateral damage.

Once he was less than twenty feet from the aqueduct, he got on the phone with CTU. "This is Bauer. Do you have any life signs around the bridge?" he asked.

"Negative," Marshall said. "But there are two big blind spots, both under the bridge. I've been trying to reconfigure the satellites, but there's nothing to look at."

"How many people could fit in the blind spots?"

"They're bridges, Mr. Bauer. They can hide a few trucks."

"All right," Jack said. "She's probably here by now; I'm going to have to go in. Once I do, I'm going dark, so you'll have to contact me through Sydney."

"Copy. Mr. Bauer," Marshall paused. "I hope this works." He terminated the call before Jack had to respond to this.

Jack approached the aqueduct, using his normal surveillance techniques to try and keep his eyes everywhere. The problem came just when he reached the underside of the bridge. There was no moonlight, and the nearest streetlight was placed too far away to pierce the darkness. It would be impossible to see even in the daylight.

Very carefully, he walked into the underside of the bridge. With nearly no visuals, he listened intently, hearing enhanced by the adrenalin pumping through his veins. There was only silence, but it didn't seem to be an unoccupied silence.

Then he heard a branch creak on his right. He whirled to his right and drew his weapon on----

--- no one.

Suddenly Jack felt air move on his left side. Realizing that he'd been outflanked, he tried to whirl around, but he was too late.

"Drop your weapon," an ice-cold female voice said. He could feel the muzzle of a Magnum on the back of his head.

"I do that, you'll kill me." Jack whispered.

"What makes you think I won't kill you anyway?" the voice said calmly. "You certainly haven't lived up to your end of the bargain. I don't see Sloane anywhere."

"You didn't really expect that I would just hand over Arvin Sloane to someone who merely _said_ they had evidence that disproved the Cyprus audio?" Jack asked.

"For all I know, you've got a team of agents in the surrounding buildings waiting to grab me," the voice countered.

This was close enough to the truth to make Jack feel he was in serious shit. "If you kill me, you'll never get Sloane."

"You don't get Sloane up here is the next five seconds, I'll blow your head off, and be on my merry way. One. Two. Three. Four. F—"

"All right." Reluctantly, Jack dropped his gun, and got on the radio. "Agent Bristow, bring Sloane up here_—_."

Jack cocked his head to one side, out of the way of the gun, then pivoted, swinging his arm back. His forearm knocked the gun off to one side and his spin segued into a roundhouse blow, the radio in his hand smashing against the woman's face. Before his blow even landed, his left arm had curled around the gun arm of the assassin, locking the weapon behind his back, neutralizing it as a threat.

Without stopping or slowing, he grabbed the woman's gun shoulder and latched on as he drove his knee up into her gut.

**12:51:04/12:51:05/12:51:06/12:51:07**

When Sydney heard Jack's voice over the radio, she knew enough to realize that he needed help. The problem was the back-up teams were so far away that she had no one to leave Sloane with. This left her with two odious options: go to the aqueduct without Sloane and risk him either escaping or being seized by the Covenant, or go up there with Sloane, and risk putting all three of them in a jackpot situation.

Her desire to help Jack and her unwillingness to leave Sloane forced her to follow the second course. However, she kept her gun pressed against Sloane's spine as she walked, making sure he wouldn't get very far should he try to run.

The approach that Sydney took with the bridge parted company with Jack's when she approached the underside. "Jack!" she stage-whispered as she stood just on the border. "Jack, where are you?"

"Leave Sloane here and walk away." Jack's voice sounded unnaturally calm. Sydney was not nearly green enough to be fooled by it

"Whoever else is here, step out where I can see you," Sydney said, taking her gun out from behind Sloane's back, and pointed it into the darkness.

"Agent Bristow, walk away," Jack said again.

"I think you know that's not going to happen." Sydney said, as she put her gun to Sloane's head. "Now, I'm telling you, and whoever's lurking back there to come out, or Sloane's brains will exit his head."

iShe stared into the darkness, and saw the glint of Jack's gun, leveled evenly at someone on the ground… not the woman Sydney had been expecting.

"Katya?" Sydney said, as Irina Derevko's younger sister slowly rose from the ground "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I would think that was fairly obvious." Katya's voice had that amused tone that Sydney did not like at all.

"Your motives have always been oblique," Sydney said darkly. "The last time I saw you, you were working against the Covenant. Now it seems that you've changed partners yet again."

"Would someone mind explaining to me what the hell's going on?" Jack said in an aggravated tone.

"I'm sorry. Katya," Sydney said, "this is Jack Bauer. He and I have spent today trying to clean up the mess you've made. Jack, this is Katya Derevko," she sighed, "my aunt." When she saw Jack's face, she added "Family reunions are such a bitch for me. Now that the introductions are over, maybe you could explain to me why you're here, and what this is about?"

"The deal was for Arvin Sloane," Katya said coldly.

"How do I know you have any proof at all?" Sydney said calmly. "How do I know this isn't just some kind of shakedown to get Sloane?"

"She's right," Jack's voice had regained its coolness. "You want Sloane, you're going to have give some kind of explanation as to what this is about."

Katya's face remained a study for several seconds before she started talking. "When I learned that my sister had been murdered, I began a search to find out who had killed her," she began. "But the back-trail was hard to follow, mainly because it involved an agency as convoluted as the Covenant. After months of work, it became clear that the only way to get the answers I needed was from the inside."

"So the Covenant just let you join," Sydney said doubtfully.

"Considering that I had spent my life in Russian intelligence, and that I could be useful in the former Soviet republics the Covenant knew that I could be a stronger ally that an enemy, my familial ties not withstanding." Katya said slowly. "I hadn't worked for them for more than a few months, when I became aware if a larger operation that they had been in the works for several years."

"Today's attack," Jack said.

"The Covenant's agenda is not solely focused on the work of Rimbaldi," Katya replied.

"What I don't understand is what they would gain out of the United States declaring war in the Middle East," Sydney asked.

"Short term reason, munitions sales. The Covenant has major arms dealers in almost every nation on this planet. A war of this scale breaks out, they'll make billions selling weapons to all sides." Katya paused. "The long term reason is far more pertinent. Power. The Covenant has people entrenched in minor level positions in every major Middle Eastern government. When the current regimes are toppled in the battle that follows, the Covenant's people will gain control over those countries."

"The Covenant will have control of those three nations?" This was pretty big beyond even Jack's parameters.

"The oil resources they'll grab in the struggle will finance Covenant operates for decades. And that's just the tip of the iceberg," Katya said.

"Let's say that I believe this story," Sydney slowly responded. "Why go to all this trouble to get Sloane?"

"When I was set to work at this operation, one of the key points to the agreement was that I was to remove any loose ends from the equation," Katya said.

"And Arvin Sloane is just one more loose end?" Jack said doubtfully

"Come on, Mr. Bauer, you know Sloane is far more valuable alive then dead," Katya countered.

"Still, I find it hard to believe the Covenant would willingly give over the kind of evidence you're talking about."

"They won't, but I will." Katya smiled as she looked at Sloane for the first time. "You see, I know that Sloane will be able to prove who killed Irina. Now that I have him, I don't need the Covenant any more. The information I'm willing to trade will cause enough damage to their organization that I'll be able to get well beyond their reach before they can start searching for me." The smile disappeared. "But you will not get that information until I have Sloane."

Jack knew that he could tell Katya Derevko what she wanted to know, and stop the trade from going any further. He also knew that if he could signal CTU they could swoop up the whole pack of them. The problem was they had no idea if the woman had the data with her, and he wasn't sure if they'd be able to get it from her from interrogation. (Plus having Katya in the same building with Sydney's father probably wasn't safe for him.) So he decided that they'd have to play this out a little longer.

"Sydney," he said, "let Sloane come over here."

"You sure?" Sydney said doubtfully.

"A deal's a deal." Jack hoped Sydney could read his tone.

She did, and let Sloane walk slowly over to Katya.

Katya put her gun on Sloane.

"Thank you, Mr. Bauer," Katya put her right hand in her other pocket.

Sydney was never sure what in Katya's behavior had given her away. All she knew was that she barely had enough time to yell: "Get down!" before the air was suddenly filled with bullets.

**12:59:57/12:59:58/12:59:59/1:00:00**


	18. 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM

**Chapter 18**

**The Following Takes Place Between 1:00 A.M. and 2:00 A.M.**

There was no time for either of them to think. All they could do was react. Jack and Sydney drew their weapons as they hit the ground, hiding behind one of the concrete supports for the bridge

"Where the fuck are they coming from?" Sydney shouted at Jack.

"Over there!"

On the eastern side of the bridge was a small area of waterfront property. There were several rows of docks with equipment all over them, and it seemed like that the enemy could be firing from every single hiding place.

"Mr. Almeida, I've got all kinds of action on the satellite!" Chloe said agitatedly. "Looks like there's a lot of activity just to the east of the aqueduct I don't know where they came from, but they just popped up."

Vaughn ran over to Marshall. "Marshall, have you got anything from the thermal scans?" he demanded.

"There's a lot, and I mean a lot of activity," Marshall said. "I'm counting at least ten life signs heading in the direction of the aqueduct!"

"Where the hell did they all come from?" Vaughn demanded.

"I don't know, " Marshall admitted. "One minute there's no activity, the next we have hell breaking loose! Someone must have jammed our satellites but I don't know how!"

Almost as if it were a cue, Marshall's phone rang. "Marshall Flinkman."

"Marshall, this is Bauer, we are pinned down by enemy fire! Send the back-up to the last set of coordinates I sent you! Also, we no longer have Sloane! I need you to make sure that the trackers are activated and that you can have somebody following him!"

"Copy that!" Marshall whirled around to Tony. "How far out is the back-up?"

"They'll be there in less than ninety seconds," Tony said.

"We better hope to God Jack and Sydney can last that long," Vaughn said grimly.

CTU Agent Curtis Manning circled around the back of the docks, letting the sounds of the gunshots guide him. His tactical team moved behind him, weapons up and at the ready.

As he got closer to the snipers' nests, he noticed a pattern to the shots. Each individual gun only fired off three-round bursts, never anything longer than that. What was it supposed to be? Suppressing fire while Sloane was taken away? If so, why continue to hang around?

For that matter, why weren't there any guards behind the snipers to see what was going on? Wouldn't it have made sense to have someone watch their backs while they were making enough noise to wake the dead?

Curtis stopped at one window, sneaking a glance inside, careful not to be spotted. He blinked at his first glance, then looked inside again. "Son of a…"

He raised his radio to his lips. "This is Manning. There are no snipers. Repeat, there are no snipers, these seem to be automatic devices to fire off the assault rifles at repeating intervals, attached to a drum barrel clip. I can't even be sure they're firing real bullets. I think there are also thermal devices to give off heat signatures like people. I…"

Manning's glance had shifted to the door, where he caught a blinking light that quickly started to flash at faster intervals.

"The doors are rigged to explode! Everyone, break off!"

Curtis threw himself into the water, and his team followed an instant before the waterfront became a wall of fire that reached to the sky.

Curtis resurfaced and quickly did a headcount. He raised his waterlogged radio—still working—and said, "We're all safe. Just wet."

**1:04:39/1:04:40/1:04:41**

"Vaughn."

"It's Sydney," she said. "Please tell me that the trackers we placed on Sloane are still working."

"Marshall's been trying to get a read on them," Vaughn said. "The external tracker's down, but the subcutaneous one is still giving off a signal."

"That won't be for long," Sydney said. "We need to pin him and Katya down now!"

"Whoa, whoa," This was news to Vaughn, "It was Katya, not Irina?"

"Doesn't really matter which one of my relatives it was," Sydney said exasperatedly. "They neverwere going to trade us the Cyprus audio. The whole point of this meeting was to extract Sloane. And we played right into their hands. Goddamn it!"

Vaughn knew better than to argue with Sydney. Instead, he looked down at the computer screen to find out something else he didn't want to see. "Syd, the other tracker just went dead—Fourth Street and WIllowbrook. Marshall is in the process of getting the satellite over the exact location. We'll let you know when it's in position," Vaughn said, trying to remain optimistic.

"You do that." Without waiting for Vaughn's reply, she _**h**_ung up.

Her frustration about the whole mess was nearly boiling over, and she turned on Jack."They found the trackers," she said flatly. "We lost Sloane."

"Look, this is a real lousy time for you to say 'I told you so,'" Jack started.

"Well, too bad," Sydney said. "Because we just got fucked twice. We don't have the proof, and we don't have our best link on the Covenant."

"Sydney, you know as well as I do that story Sloane was peddling was bullshit," he said.

"For all we know the story Katya fed us was as well," Sydney said. "Derevko's are exceptional liars…Our luck has been shitty all day, Jack," The anger Sydney had felt was beginning to dissipate; she was starting to feel exhausted again. "Besides, even if we get a hit on them, the odds are really lousy that it'll lead back to the Covenant."

Jack shook his head. "How could I have been so stupid?" he asked.

"As much as I want to tear you a new asshole, we don't have time. We need to get to Sloane's last location. We have to get on the road now."

Sydney started back to the car. Jack followed her. He knew as well as she did that the chances of locating Sloane had fallen to slim to none, but they had no choice.

This was his mess, and he had to clean it up.

**1:10:48/1:10:49/1:10:50/1:10:51**

"How long until you have readings from the traffic cameras?" Michelle asked Chloe.

"Should be any second now," Chloe said. "Not that it's going to do us much good without any car to look for."

"Chloe!" Tony said warningly.

"What, did I tell a lie or something?" Chloe said. "Or do you expect the car Sloane was in to be flashing lights with a cursor on it?"

Tony knew there was no point in getting upset with the tech. She hadn't caused the problem. "Just let me know when you've got the Fourth Street camera up," he said tiredly.

Marshall phone rang. "This is Marshall," he said, sounding tired for the first time today. Then he perked up a little. "Hey, where'd you---- Oh, sure, okay." He took his hand from the phone. "Mr. Almeida, Nadia's on the line."

To say Tony was surprised was an understatement. He'd figured that Nadia's departure from CTU about an hour ago had to do with her growing anger at the fact that her father had betrayed her yet again. He hadn't even bothered to report her leaving to Division, because he figured this was a justifiable violation of procedure.

He took the phone from Marshall. "Almeida."

"Tony, I'm tracking Sloane."

Tony had thought he didn't have the capacity for anything else to surprise him. Wrong again. "What are you talking about?" he said. "How is that even possible?"

"I knew that there was going to be something funny about the meeting," Nadia said. "So, as the location was reported, I took Sydney's car to the western side of the bridge above the road. I saw the whole thing go down, and I saw Katya drive away after the bullets starting flying."

By now Tony was back to business. "What's she driving?"

"A maroon Kia sedan, license plate JR5- EL9. I've been following her for the past ten minutes, she's probably trying to make sure she isn't being followed."

"What direction is she headed?" Tony asked.

"Right now, she's heading northeast down Stanton Avenue."

"All right, I can have back-up teams to intercept her in less than five minutes----"

"Don't bother." Nadia's voice got colder.

"Nadia, you've done a hell of a job, but CTU does have protocols to follow,"

"All due respect, Tony, your protocols nearly got my sister and Jack Bauer killed."

For the first time in the conversation, Tony began to feel Nadia, despite her brilliant work, wasn't thinking very clearly. She might not have known that Jack had done this over the objections of everyone at CTU, but she damn sure knew this was Jack's operation. The fact that she was choosing to ignore this meant that her judgment was clouded.

"Nadia, you can't track this woman by yourself," he said rationally. "You need satellite and fiber optics. Plus you're going to need some kind of back-up to grab Katya when she finally gets where she's going."

"I can get the tech stuff from Marshall," Nadia said hostilely. "And Katya didn't go to all this trouble just to take Sloane to the local Covenant hotspot. We both know that she's taking him out of the country."

"That makes it all the more important we stop them," Tony argued.

"I'm just curious, Tony, are you more interested in getting Sloane back, or making sure you keep your job when the shit hits the fan?" Nadia asked.

Tony's face scrunched up in confusion. "Excuse me? Sorry, but I'm not Ryan Chapelle."

"I'll get in touch with Marshall when I need satellite," Nadia said in a more normal tone of voice. "You get in contact with Jack and Sydney and send them in as backup. Otherwise, I don't want to hear or see one hint of any CTU or APO presence. I'm not going to have any bigger a mess than we already do."

"Nadia---"

"Don't try to contact me, Tony. I don't need any more interference then I've already gotten." With that, Nadia hung up.

"Son of a bitch," Tony swore. He walked over to Marshall. "I need you to let me know the second Nadia calls back. In the meantime, I need you to get the satellite repositioned to around Stanton Avenue, and all points northeast."

"Um, why---" Marshall looked at Tony's face, and meekly acquiesced. "Yes, sir, Mr. Almeida, I'll get right on that."

"Do we have a location on Sloane?" Michelle asked.

"Oh, we have a location," Tony said. "It's finding the locator that's going to be the bitch."

**1:15:17/1:15:18/1:15:19**

Eric Weiss knew that he had no business being out of bed, considering he had survived both an explosion and a bullet to the chest in the space of twelve hours. But the painkillers in his blood stream were making him feel almost mellow, and he was starting to feel more than a little stir-crazy. Besides, they had transferred him to the CTU medical center because he was stable, which had to mean they thought he could do something for them. (That, at least was the rationale he had been running through his head for the last hour.)

So he had gotten out of bed, with the purpose of getting dressed, and learning something about what was going on. Unfortunately, the simple task of putting his pants on was enough of a struggle to make Weiss reconsider his actions.

"Hey, who do you think you are, Superman?" Suddenly Vaughn was in the room, looking at Weiss' efforts at buttoning his shirt.

"More like Super Dave," Weiss said wryly. "Would you remind me again why I took a job where people keep trying to kill me?"

Vaughn managed a tired smile. "Must have been the dental plan." The smile disappeared. "Seriously, Weiss, you shouldn't be up."

"And you shouldn't be here," Weiss countered. "Are you in the middle of some major operation?"

"Sort of."

Weiss could detect frustration in his best friend's tone. "Let me guess: the situation involving Sloane has just become FUBAR."

"We don't have Sloane, we don't have the proof that the Cyprus audio was forged, Sydney and Bauer nearly got killed at the trade site, and our only lead is in the hands of Nadia—who isn't herself at the moment," Vaughn said tiredly. "I'd say that FUBAR sums up the situation pretty good."

"Whoa, go back one," Weiss said. "I thought Nadia went home."

"So did I. But apparently the only reason she left CTU was in case something like this happened," Vaughn said. "At least, I hope that's the reason she's back out in the field."

The morphine was making Weiss' head a little cloudy and it took him a few seconds. "You don't mean… You don't think that she's out there to help Sloane?" Vaughn didn't answer right away. "Mike, she knows better than anyone else what kind of person Sloane is."

"Maybe so, but Sloane is still her father," Vaughn responded. "And when your family is involved in something, it can affect your perspective. God knows Sydney learned that the hard way."

"I spoke her less than two hours ago," Weiss insisted. "She told me that she was done with Sloane."

"I'm 99 percent sure that she is, too," Vaughn admitted. "But it adds another element into a situation that is already very combustible. I hope that when Bauer and Sydney rendezvous with her that the three of them can manage to make a clean grab of Sloane. Otherwise…"

Vaughn trailed off. Weiss knew he didn't have to finish the sentence. There was a good possibility that the situation was explosive already… And neither knew of the promise that Jack Bauer had made to Sydney less than an hour ago. They were going to need a bit of luck for things to work out.

And their luck today had been pretty lousy.

**1:21:01/1:21:02/1:21:03/1:21:04**

"Yes, Morris, I know what time it is." Chloe pulled her ear a little away from her phone. "Well, a nuclear bomb being detonated is the kind of thing that can bring on unscheduled overtime." Chloe put her hand on her head. "Morris, you know what the job is like, you work here too.If you really want us to get married, you're going to have to get used to the fact that I don't punch a clock."

Chloe turned around to see that Tony had now walked behind her. "I'm hanging up now," Chloe said hurriedly. "My boss is looking at me with the same kind of look I'd be giving you if I could see you." She terminated the phone call. "Mr. Almeida, I'm sorry. My fiancé is using this disaster as a way to get all possessive, and----"

"Chloe, I don't care," Tony said tiredly. "Just do your job, okay?"

"Sure."

Chloe might have said more, but then Tony's cell rang. Hoping like hell it wouldn't involve his personal life, he answered. "Almeida."

"Tony, it's Ryan Chapelle."

Almost as a reflex, Tony stiffened. He hadn't talked with his superior at Division that much today---- Dixon had been running interference---- and he was never wild about his _**i**_nvolvement under the best of circumstances. He had a feeling that this call wasn't about today's positives. "Ryan, what can I do for you?"

"First of all, I want to congratulate you on your promotion."

Tony hadn't quite expected that. "Thanks, I only wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"I know. George was a good man." There was something in Chapelle's tones that seemed to make even genuine remorse sound like a platitude. "Look, I thought that I should give a heads up."

_Here it comes. _"For what?" Tony asked wearily.

"Given the way things have been going for the last few hours, I think it's clear that you and your people need some kind of help."

Tony had never had an opportunity like this--- to tell Ryan off with far less fear of reprisal---- before. "Ryan, given everything that's happened to this unit over the past eighteen hours, I'd say we don't need any help from Division."

"The last few operations you've handled haven't gone very well." Chapelle was starting to get that authoritarian tone Tony had never liked. "Sayed Ali was killed, and it happened on your watch, Tony," Ryan said firmly. "That makes it your responsibility. Then, you can't keep your own house in order when it comes to authenticating the Cyprus audio, and then your people con the President into agreeing to this half-assed plan where you put Arvin Sloane in play to obtain evidence that you yourself don't believe exists!"

That was going too far. "Ryan, I was against the idea from the start," Tony pointed out. "The President agreed to that trade over the strong objections of everyone else at CTU!"

"The fact remains that the trade took place, and now we no longer have Sloane in custody!"

Tony thought his head was going to explode. This led him to reveal something he hadn't been sure he'd reveal to Division yet. "There's a good chance that we may regain possession of Sloane within the hour."

There was a pause on the other end. Clearly, Chapelle's people hadn't told him about this. "Is this plan under the surveillance of Jack Bauer as well?" he finally asked. "Know what? Who cares? How certain are you of Sloane's retrieval?"

"It's hard to say."

"If we don't get Sloane back, or prove that the Cyprus audio is a fraud, a lot of people are going to have to eat shit on this. And chain of command puts you at the top of the list." Chapelle paused. "I'm bringing a couple of teams from Division over in half an hour."

"Hell, Ryan!"

"This is a gift, Tony." Chapelle's voice had gotten colder, if that was even possible. "I suggest that you take it while you still have the option. We'll be there by two."

And before he could voice any more objections, Chapelle had hung up.

Chapelle was never friendly, even in the best of circumstances, but Tony thought that he had sensed something besides the man's traditional mixture of arrogance and disdain.

Something that had seemed like—nervousness.

Tony didn't think he ever heard Ryan Chapelle nervous in all his years at CTU. Could it be that there was something being done over his head?

Tony hoped that this was just paranoia from the long day. But then paranoia wasn't a much better feeling than nervousness.

**1:29:08/1:29:07/1:29:10**

Thanks to Marshall's use of satellite, Nadia was able to follow Katya's car with little difficulty. Of course there was a possibility that Katya or her father were aware that she was being followed, and that she was being led into some kind of trap. However, the die was cast.

Now, however, the sedan was pulling into an alley about a hundred feet ahead of her. Nadia circled the block, taking care to memorize every detail of the street she was on, before getting out of her car, and darting back to that same area

It appeared to be some kind of business area. There were a lot of apartment buildings with lots of lights on, a couple of storefronts that were closed and what could be a couple of office buildings. However, Katya's car was across from an establishment with a flashing neon sign proclaiming it as _Childe Roland's_, and given the way this place stuck out, Nadia was willing to bet that this was the Covenant drop point.

As she walked over to Katya's sedan, she got on the phone. "Marshall, I need you to get me the building schematics and ownership deed to a nightclub called _Childe Roland. _It's on Pierpont in the downtown section of the Palisades."

As she waited for Marshall to get back to her, she took out a pocketknife. She seriously doubted that Katya was going to be coming back to this vehicle, but she wanted to make sure she had all her bases covered.

While drawing the blade against the third tire, her hand pressed against something near the top of the wheel. When she pulled it back, it turned out to be a small black box. Nadia was pondering what it might be when Marshall's voice returned to her ear.

"Nadia, _Childe Roland _opened six months ago. There's no name on the title deed, but the investment was put forth by Star Crossed Industries."

Nadia had heard that name a couple of times today. "How many ways in and out?" she asked.

"According to the layout, aside from the front door, there's a connection to the building next door, and one way out in the alley behind it," Marshall said

Nadia was silent for a moment before beginning to move. "Contact Sydney and Jack, and give them the address of this building," she said. "Tell them that it is a Covenant hot spot, and that some kind of business is going to go down involving Katya and my father. I'm headed for the back entrance, and that they should meet me there. Tell them to hurry."

**1:34:20/1:34:21/1:34:22/1:34:23**

Sydney was nearly as surprised as Tony had been to hear from Nadia --- Sydney had feared she might never hear from her again.

She had half-expected that Jack would raise some kind of objection as to how Nadia wanted to proceed, but he didn't, and had followed Nadia's coordinates in tracing Sloane and Katya.

Now, as Jack drove them to the nightclub where they could find both of them, she turned to him and started asking the questions she'd been avoiding. "You're awfully quiet about this," she began.

Jack raised a brow. "Is there something I should say?"

"I just mean, we're running this kind of counter-surveillance, we're about to attempt a raid on a Covenant hot-spot, my sister's broken almost every regulation the Agency has, and you're just going along with it like it's no big deal."

Jack kept his eyes on the road. "Sydney, we've been working together all day, how much of the rule book have I been obeying?" he asked just as bluntly.

"All due respect, Jack," Sydney said offhandedly, "you don't work for CTU anymore. When we put this crisis to bed, you're free to go back to civilian life, relatively free from repercussions."

Jack almost laughed. "And you think that I would be acting any different if I were still a member of CTU?"

"Well, I don't think you'd be putting your ass on the line for someone you didn't know yesterday, to retrieve a man you despise."

He shook his head. "No one briefed you on me when you were assigned to baby-sit me, did they?"

"No," she admitted. "Why?"

The streetlights cast shadows over his face for several seconds before he said, "The day my wife and daughter were kidnapped, I broke so many rules that today makes me look like a boy scout. I shot George Mason with a tranq gun before I was back in the office ten minutes, killed two people only a few hours later, and broke a cop killer out of jail within the first four hours. Trust me, I'm no stranger to bending the rules."

Sydney blinked. "You make it sound like you wouldn't know the rulebook if it hit you on the head."

He smiled…somewhat. "The rule book is there for normal procedures, normal days. Not days like today." His face hardened. "Some people use procedure as an excuse to compromise. There are some things that can't be compromised."

"Compromised? Like breaking the prisoner out of jail?"

"I put him back," he answered flatly. "The only reason Palmer is alive is because I bypassed procedure when I had to. I didn't compromise on the ends…maybe the means." His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. He swerved around a double-parked car. "Besides, if you're concerned about the rules, what about you? You'vegot a lot more to lose by aiding your sister, and not all of that's professional. And what exactly do you think is going to happen if you and I do uphold our oath and kill Sloane?"

Sydney was silent for several seconds as she considered this. "I've wanted Sloane dead for so long that I can't remember a time when I didn't," she admitted. "When I agreed to work under him at APO, I thought that I could bury my hatred out of respect for Nadia. Now I guess I'm considering that just one more of the things that he's taken away from me."

"Sydney, I'm the last person in the world who should be talking about family bonds. You're right, I don't know you. But I know this job. This is the price you pay for doing what we do. And I got to say, most of the time, it's a shitty trade. I've dealt with it; I know I'm the kind of person who can live with it. You've got to know if you are too."

Sydney honestly had no idea how to respond to this, and she was spared the effort when she saw the neon lights of _Childe Roland. _"We're here," she said.

**1:40:47/1:40:48/1:40:49**

Jack went around the block, in order to make sure that no one saw their car. They got out, opened the trunk, and removed some more of he weapons and bullet cases from the compartment in the back seat. Sydney also took out a radio, and switched it to a frequency that Nadia had told them she would be on.

"We've arrived," she said over it. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the rear of the building," Nadia reported. "They've got two stationary guards at the back entrance. I don't think that this is a high priority spot of operations for the Covenant. Their job is to guard the building, not the perimeter."

"Same thing for the front door," Sydney said. "There's one guy. Doesn't look much different from any other bouncer."

"How exactly are we going to play this?" Jack asked. "I'm guessing you don't want additional back-up."

"No," Nadia assented. "They may be lax on the entryways, but we have no idea how many people are waiting on the inside. That kind of assault would probably lead to heavy casualties, and they'd probably be able to get away. Did Marshall upload the building schematics to your PDA?"

"I'm looking at it now," Jack said as he looked at the handheld device.

"How long would it take you to get to the entrance on the other side of the building?" Nadia asked.

"About two minutes." Sydney said.

"I'll meet Sydney there. Once we make our way inside, we're going to head to an enclave nearest the bathrooms I think that rooms going to be big enough for whatever business Katya's come here to transact."

"And what am I doing?" Jack asked.

"You're going to go in through the front entrance and check the rest of the layout."

"Isn't this a bigger risk for Jack?" Sydney asked.

Jack shook his head. "I've been out of play for so long, theCovenant is far less likely to know who I am than either of you two."

"We do have something of a rep with the Covenant," Sydney said dryly.

**1:44:29/1:44:30/1:44:31/1:44:32**

Just like the two other major points of entry to the building, the entrance from the building next door was minimally guarded--- only two men who Sydney and Nadia had a relatively easy time overpowering.

"Nadia," Sydney began slowly as they made their way onto the nightclub floor, "for a Covenant building, there aren't a whole lot of Covenant."

Nadia nodded. "I think that this is a lawful business—to make itseem like Star-Crossed Industry is legitimate. Given the minimal force, Katya isn't going to be here any longer than she has to be."

The main area of the nightclub was not incredibly crowded--- Sydney could see less than a couple dozen people on the dance floor, or near the bar. She could also count multiple security cameras, which was probably more than the average nightclub this size needed--- and she had seen far more than her share of club interiors.

She got Jack on her earpiece ---- another Marshall innovation. "Jack, where are you?" she said in a whisper

"I'm coming up past the bar," he said. "The enclave is about a hundred feet in front of me." Jack slowly moved past the bar, and headed towards theenclave in something resembling a drunken stupor---- he wanted to maintain his cover as long as possible. As with the rest of the place, there was only one guard, but Jack figured this one was going to be as easy to get by as the bouncer.

"Hey, man, where can I get a cigarette?" Jack slurred as he stumbled into the guard.

"Hey, buddy, this area is for private parties only," the guard said, trying to restrain Jack. Instead of dropping him, Jack barely resisted—he was more focused on listening. He heard three voices talking---- and one of them was Arvin Sloane.

"Hey, hey, no problem, I'm going," Jack mumbled as he pulled himself up and began stumbling away

The second he was a round the corner, he spoke into his radio. "Sloane's in the enclave. At least two other people are with him. How do we proceed?"

"Nadia and I'll make our way to the back," Sydney answered. "We'll try and—"

A man on approach closed with them, drawing a Glock 9. Sydney was reaching for her own weapon, when he lifted his hand higher, and fired into the air.

The effect was immediate—the club-goers began to scream and run around in a panic.

"We've been made!" Sydney screamed over the radio. "Grab Sloane and Katya now!"

**1:48:29/1:48:30/1:48:31/1:48:32**

Jack had expected that there might be more trouble, and armed himself accordingly—with an RF micro machine gun.

As the sounds of panic grew around him, he took out the micro and fired on the guard standing in the enclave. He shoved the would-be defender aside and shoved the door open.

It turned out that in addition to Sloane and Katya Derevko, there were three other people there. Two formed a box around Sloane and began heading towards the back exit, firing their pistols. The sole remaining spear-carrier, along with Katya Derevko, was even more heavily armed, each firing .9mm automatic Stechkin APS handgun—with extended clips.

Jack pulled back and dropped down low, andyelled into his radio, "Sloane's going out the back! Cut him off!" before emptying his half his clip into the back room. None of his bullets hit the party now escorting Sloane, but he did manage to get three rounds into the first spear-carrier, dropping him.

The responding fire drove Jack backwards. When Jack next wheeled around, the room was empty. He growled and charged through, following. He burst out into the back alley, and found Katya almost at the other end.

"Drop it!" Sydney yelled from the other end of the alley, pointing her weapon at Katya.

"Or what, Sydney?" Katya asked, making no indication that she would surrender. "You'll kill your own aunt?"

"It's the Derevko way, isn't it?" Sydney said bitterly. "We don't care about blood unless we're spilling it."

By now, Jack had gotten out the door and had the other end covered. "Give it up, Derevko!" he shouted. "There's nowhere left to run!"

"You honestly don't think I'm just going to surrender to you, do you, Mr. Bauer?" Katya almost purred.

"You're a professional," Jack called back. "You know you can bargain your way out of this."

"Like Nina Myers did, Jack?" she asked tauntingly.

"Would you rather be gunned down…like Jack Bristow killed your sister?"

Katya's eyes widened and she spun around—like Jack thought she would. Anticipating her turn, he fired precisely, putting bullets into her arm, her shoulder,and a third grazing her lung. The impacts punched her back against a wall, the Stechkin clattering to the street.

"Damn it, Jack!" Nadia, who had reappeared at the front of the alley, shouted. "We need her alive!"

Jack moved to Katya's side, crouching at a safe distance. He looked up at Nadia. "She is alive."

Katya smiled through her pain. "But, Jack, I still have your evidence," she taunted, almost playfully. "You still need me."

Suddenly Nadia kneeled down and reached into her pocket. "No, we don't," she added, pulling out the black box.

Jack blinked. "Where'd you get that?"

"From Katya's car. Under the tire."

Jack looked at it. "There's a laptop in the CTU vehicle. We need to find out what's on this chip _now…_What about her?" Jack asked.

Nadia looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

Jack simply looked at her and said, "She's your family."

Nadia studied his face for a moment, then smiled slightly. "Thank you, Jack, but we'll keep her for now. Let's get her back to CTU."

The driver of the small grey sedan that had managed to pull out of the away while everyone was concerned with Katya handed a cell to Arvin Sloane.

Sloane took it and dialed the number. "Are you safely away?" the voice on the other end said.

"Yes, but Katya was taken prisoner."

There was a pause on the other end. "These are the consequences of your actions, Arvin," the voice on the other end. "I'm still cleaning up the mess you've made. This is not the way to keep the Covenant happy."

"I suppose you want me to fix this," Sloane said dryly.

"No, you've done enough for today," the voice said snidely. I'd chew you out some more, but right now I've got to catch a ride."

"We could be at war any minute, and we're driving this bitch back to lock-up," the CTU agent glanced at the back seat.

"Hey, if you'd done have the shit this bitch has, you'd want her locked in the darkest hole you can find__ too." The driver gestured at the road, and saw what looked like a car wreck in the middle of the road. "Shit! That's all we need."

He slowed to a more manageable speed. The second he did, three men with M16's came out from behind the bus and emptied their guns into the windshield, killing the men in front. The agents in the back of the bus were fast, but not nearly fast enough—two other men ripped open the back doors, and emptied their weapons into the guards, carefully ignoring the prisoner.

The woman in the back seat remained absolutely still, and not just because her feet and hands were chained together. The two shooters stood aside to let a third man in the bus.

He was of medium height, only a few years older than Nina, and was balding. His upper body looked like he was slouching while still on his feet, head lowered like he didn't have the energy to raise it all the way up, wearing a suit that didn't seem to fit properly. He looked like he belonged more like a video store clerk than a killer.

"You know, just once, I'd like somebody to be glad to see me, when I showed up," he said in a voice that smacked of amusement and smart-alecky as he crawled in and reached for the keys on the belt of one of the dead guards.

"I'm always grateful to be welcomed from certain death," Nina Myers said, "What I'd like to know first is who and why."

"Well, let's start with who," Nina's rescuer said as he unlocked her cuffs. "My name is Mackennas Cole, but for today's purposes, you can call me The Man."

"How's she doing?" Jack asked Sydney.

"I don't think you hit any major arteries," Sydney said, as she used some of the gauze in the med kit, "I just hope you didn't cause any internal damage."

"I didn't," Jack said.

"I believe you, Jack," Sydney said. "I'd just prefer it if someone with a medical degree concurred."

Jack smiled before turning his attention back to the road. "Where are we on the disk?"

"It appears to be some kind of memory chip," Nadia said. "I'm working with Michelle to try and download to it CTU's computer."

"You know how do that?" Jack said.

"You work in a unit with Marshall, you pick up a few tricks… Hold on." Nadia typed for another few seconds. "I think I've got something here. These are audio files. Looks like two of them."

"Can you play them?" Sydney asked.

"Michelle's reading them now." Nadia's expression changed. "Son of a bitch! This is part of the Cyprus audio."

"I don't know what's more amazing," Sydney said. "That we have the proof or that a Derevko actually told the truth about something."

"Michelle," Nadia said, "get Marshall on this. I want this verified."

"So not only do your people not only have Katya Derevko, they also have the memory chip with the audio file. Do I have to tell you how big a problem that is?"

"No, sir."

"This is what we transfer the money into your bank accounts for. I don't have to tell you what a problem this is, _Ryan."_

"I'll handle it, Mr. Cole," Ryan Chapelle said, his normally firm voice quivering a little.

**1:59:57/1:59:58/1:59:59/2:00:00**


	19. 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM

**Note: I'd be remiss if I didn't use an opportunity to thank my beta and friend John for helping shape this story. Without his help, this novel would be little more than a Day 2 retread. I am grateful that he has helped getting me where I wanted to go.**

**Chapter 19**

**The Following Takes Place Between 2:00 A.M. and 3:00 A.M.**

The second that Jack heard that they had the proof the Cyprus audio was forged, he had called President Palmer. However, for some reason there was a lot of static on the line.

"Are you having problems with your connection?" Jack asked Nadia, still typing on the laptop.

"A little," Nadia admitted. "Marshall tells me there are grids down all over the city. They're calling him in to try and see if he can do anything to improve communications at CTU."

"All right, I'll go at this the other way," Jack dialed Tony's office.

"Almeida."

"Tony, it's Jack. Sydney, Nadia and I are about fifteen minutes out from CTU."

"And you have the proof with you," Tony asked.

"According to Nadia, yes," Jack confirmed. "It appears to be a CPB memory chip with two recordings that seem to be the original source. We also have Katya Derevko in custody."

"How did you manage that little trick?" Tony asked.

"I shot her. I don't think that it's critical, but you'd better have the medical team on standby when we get back."

"What about Arvin Sloane?"

This was the part Tony wasn't going to like. "Sloane is still at large," Jack admitted. "In order to get Derevko, we had to let him escape."

"You've just bought yourself a lot of trouble, Jack," Tony said.

"This trade was given the okay by the President," Jack said. "Doesn't that give you enough cover with Division?"

"Jack, by the time you get back, Chapelle's going to be here." Tony warned. "I'm guessing that it's not going to be for doing a good job."

"We have the evidence, we have Katya Derevko," Jack argued. "The larger end was served by making this exchange."

"Well, Jack, Ryan hasn't changed much in the time you've been gone. He's going to say that you ran roughshod over the chain of command, and that as a result of your maneuvers, we have now lost possession of one of the most dangerous terrorists alive."

"We can use Katya Derevko to find Sloane," Jack insisted

"Somehow, I don't think that argument's going to play that well with Division."

Jack knew this to be a fact. And he also knew that the second he got back to CTU, he was going to be having this argument with Chapelle. "Look, contact the President and tell him we have the evidence he needs. And tell the medical team to be ready to treat Derevko; I want to be ready to start working with her as soon as we get in. We'll be there soon."

"That's an interesting phrase." Jack didn't show it, but he was surprised by who had spoken. He had been sure that Katya Derevko was unconscious given where he'd shot her. "Working _with_ me, instead of_ on _me. Does that imply we're about to do business?"

"I was going to ask Jack the same question," Sydney said. "I assumed you would be playing the pain card, considering who we have in custody."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but Katya's ex-KGB, right?" Jack asked.

"Close enough," Katya said in a very clear voice.

"I know how the Russians train their agents," Jack said. "Breaking you is going to take a lot of time. And every second I waste on you, Arvin Sloane is using to get the hell out of Dodge. It's going to be a lot simpler to just negotiate."

Now Sydney shook her head. "The government already made a deal with a Derevko, and got burned," she said pointedly. "The Agency won't get fooled again."

"So, how would _you _handle it?" Katya's tone was fainter, but still amused.

"What I'm curious about is why you allowed yourself to be taken prisoner at all," Sydney said looking down at her aunt.

"You think that I voluntarily took three bullets?" Katya said, almost smiling. "That seems rather short-sighted on my part."

"You're a Derevko," Sydney said sternly. "And no Derevko voluntarily goes anywhere without some kind of plan You could have gotten away, or at least not been taken alive. The fact that you did neither makes me believe that there's something else in play here, and I'm betting that it has something to do with my father."

Suddenly Sydney put her fingers inside the bullet wound in Katya's arm. "And I'm telling you right now," she muttered to Katya, "if you do anything to try and hurt him, I'm going to test Jack's theory that pain would be wasted on you."

**2:07:39/2:07:40/2:07:41**

"What'll it take to get the medical station up to full security?" Tony asked Michelle.

"It'll be a problem," Michelle admitted. "When the explosion hit, we devoted most of the security and gear to form a triage to treat the blast victims. We got the uplinks from the security cameras and phones, but that's about it. We can make some improvement, but our personnel been stretched pretty thin as it is."

"There might be something else we can do," Vaughn said suddenly. "Weiss is still in medical, but he's stable and walking around. He can lead whatever security detail you want to try and post there."

"So you basically want a patient running the doctor's office?" Chloe asked.

"Chloe," Vaughn warned.

"The man was shot less than eight hours ago, and you want him to be watching a really dangerous terrorist?" Chloe asked.

"Tony, you know he's capable," Michelle said. "And it would be more efficient to have someone we can all trust on the inside."

Tony thought for a moment. "Brief Weiss," he finally told Vaughn. "Tell him that he's going to be in charge of security when Katya Derevko gets there. However, his main job will be to watch. I want him to leave her actual defense by someone who is at a hundred percent. No offense, Vaughn."

"Hey, I'm sure he'd want the same thing if the situation was reversed."

Before Vaughn had finished leaving, Marshall's cell rang.

"Marshall Flinkman." Tony was walking back towards medical when Marshall held up a hand as he listened. "It's Dixon. He wants to talk to you in private."

"Is there a reason he chose to do this by calling your phone?" Tony asked.

"He says he'll only explain to you, and only on this line."

Not at all sure why Dixon was performing so out of character, he took the phone from Marshall and began to walk away. "What the hell's going on?" Tony asked.

"What I'm about to tell you needs to stay between us, at least for now," Dixon said slowly. "Less than ten minutes ago, a security transport taking Nina Myers back to the detention facility she was originally being held in was apparently intercepted by some kind of team. All five of the people in the detail were murdered; Nina escaped."

"What the hell?" Tony lowered his voice. "Do they have any idea what happened?'

"No, but right now I think that this is the least of our concerns."

"Nina escaping isn't a minor concern."

"It is when you add the fact that less than two hours ago, I heard an order from the Attorney General's office that Nina Myers wasn't to be touched until Justice finished an emergency review of Nina's case."

"DO you want me to get some of my people working on it?" Tony asked.

"Not at the present time. From what I hear you're going to have your hands full with Derevko, and you'll need the manpower you have on your current assignment. But that has nothing to do with why I contacted you."

A nasty picture was beginning to form in Tony's head. "Then why did you call me?"

"I think that either someone in my office or at District was responsible for leaking information that led to Nina's escape." Dixon lowered his voice again. "Problem is, I have no idea who. I called you on Marshall's phone because I wanted to make sure that the line wasn't being monitored. The phone that Marshall designed for Sloane is the only one I'm certain isn't being bugged."

"So you're telling me….?"

"I think that there's a mole inside Division."

**2:13:50/2:13:51/2:13:52/2:13:53**

As was almost always the case when some bigwig from Division deemed to grace the field agents with his presence, Ryan Chapelle entered with a small detachment of followers. No one was sure what their exact position at Division was, but their sole job when coming to a facility like CTU seemed to be to piss people off while supposedly assisting the rank and file. The only noticeable aspect of their personalities seemed to be that they were Chapelle's sycophants, so Michelle knew that despite whatever they were supposed to, the Division head was the only one who mattered.

"Mr. Chapelle," she said as she walked up to him.

"Michelle." Like always, Chapelle's amiability seemed forced. "Where's Tony? In his office?"

This was a good question. "He took a call from someone in his office; he should be back any moment."

"So the phones here are working," Chapelle said.

"Our tech support here's been something of a marvel," Michelle said pointedly. "But grids and wireless are down pretty much everywhere. It's hard to get communication outside the radius of CTU."

"You're using SatCom?" Chapelle asked. Michelle nodded. "Save it for your highest priorities," he ordered. "We're sharing it with half a dozen other agencies."

Then Chapelle saw who he was really looking for and, as was almost always the case, mentally dismissed the less-important person. "I can't tell you how thrilled I am whenever I come to a major unit, and can't find the director," he said deliberately to Tony.

"I had to take a call from District, Ryan," Tony said just as sharply. "Forgive me for regulating you to second place."

"What did District want?"

"They want to know what were doing with Katya Derevko, and so do I," Tony said.

"Wait a minute," Chapelle said. "What does Katya Derevko have to do with any of this?"

"You haven't been briefed yet?" Tony asked.

"I've been in transit, and there's a lot going on," Chapelle said in that irritatingly brusque manner he used with everybody. "Now what does Katya Derevko have to do with anything that's happened today?"

"We're not a hundred percent certain," Tony admitted. "All we know is that a little more than two hours ago, Derevko set into motion a plan to get Arvin Sloane out of custody in exchange for proof that the Cyprus audio was forged."

"And I'm guessing now that we have neither."

"You'd be mistaken, Mr. Chapelle." Tony looked up to see someone who he had hoped he wouldn't have to deal with until later.

"You're Jack Bristow, correct?" Apparently Chapelle recognized the man.

"I just got an update from Marshall," Mr. Bristow said. "When they searched Katya Derevko's vehicle, a memory chip containing the original source recordings was located. They've downloaded it from their computer here; Marshall says that he should be able to verify it's authenticity in a matter of minutes."

Tony wasn't a hundred percent sure, but Chapelle seemed to deflate a little when he heard this. "Well, that's good news," he said slowly. "But there are a couple of other problems that we have to deal with now."

As always, Ryan was able to find a dark cloud behind this silver lining. "What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"If the Middle East wasn't behind today's attack, who is?" Chapelle asked. "And how do we bring them to justice?"

"Before we took Katya into custody, she admitted that the Covenant was behind today's attack."

"Did she give any more specifics that that?"

"No, Mr. Chapelle," Mr. Bristow said impatiently, "she was too busy trying to have my daughter and Jack Bauer executed."

Chapelle did what he always did when confronted by a point he couldn't refute--- change the subject. "More importantly, there's the issue of Arvin Sloane. Or did you manage to recapture him?"

"No, " Tony admitted. "He escaped while Sydney, Jack and Nadia were detaining Derevko."

"Wait a minute," Chapelle said. "Nadia Santos? You're telling me that Sloane's _daughter_ was involved in the hunt for him?"

"We thought that Sydney's mother was involved in the exchange," Mr. Bristow countered.

"In which case, she should have never been made part of the search team either," Chapelle argued, turning to Tony. "How the hell could you let this even go forward?"

"Sydney has a long and vested history with Arvin Sloane," Mr. Bristow said icily. "So did Nadia, for that matter. Believe when I tell you that they were absolutely the right people to be pursuing him."

"Do we have Sloane?" Chapelle pressed. "Any new leads on where he is?"

"Not at the moment," Tony admitted.

"I'm sure that the Covenant has Sloane---"

"You're sure, Mr. Bristow?" Chapelle finally fixed his gaze on Sydney's father. "Did you know that Sloane had betrayed his country again until a few hours ago?"

"What are you insinuating, Mr. Chapelle?" Jack Bristow said icily.

"I'm saying that you have a long history of being misled by people you're close to, and I'm not sure your judgment is one I want to rely on."

Tony knew that Chapelle could be blunt; he had rarely seen him that deliberately nasty. Mr. Bristow's face remained a mask, but Tony could tell that he was pissed.

"Are you ordering me to go?" he said in a deceivingly neutral tone.

"I don't have to," Chapelle said bluntly. "You don't work for me. The crisis is over. You shouldn't be in this building anymore."

"Hold on, " Tony said. "Ryan, we're woefully undermanned as it is."

"Why do you think I brought so many people with me? To go sight-seeing?" Chapelle asked nastily.

"It would take a couple of hours to bring them up to speed," Tony countered. "And, if we're going to be serious about getting Sloane back, we can't lose any more time." Chapelle appeared to be about to argue, so he finished: "If I have to go over your head to keep APO here, I'll do it."

Chapelle never liked being cornered, but before he could answer, Vaughn walked up to him. "I just heard from Weiss," he said. "Jack, Sydney and Nadia are bringing Katya Derevko in to the medical unit now."

"Ryan?" Tony pressed.

"On a provisional basis, until we find Sloane," Chapelle said reluctantly. "And I want to talk to Agents Bristow and Santos _now."_

Ryan was about to storm off, when Jack Bristow got in his way. Two of the larger members of Ryan's staff—two men with 36" necks—moved to intercept him, and he merely stared them down. Then, he stepped close to Chapelle, forcing Ryan to look up at him. Mr. Bristow looked down at him and said, "You're right, Mr. Chapelle, I don't work for you, but as long as we're still in the same building, you can see exactly what I'm doing. And as a man like you would know—it's hard to be stabbed in the back when you're looking at the man with the knife. For your own sake, I would keep us as close to you as possible."

**2:24:27/2:24:28/2:24:29/2:24:30**

"I'm going to need to do an X-ray to make sure the bullets aren't still in there," the clinic doctor, whose name Sydney couldn't recall, told the contingent of agents assembled around Katya. "However, based on the locations, I don't think the bullets hit any major organs."

"What are you going to need in order to treat her?" Jack asked.

"I'll need to give her some anti-bacterial to make sure she doesn't get an infection, plus I'll need to sedate her temporarily---"

"No," Sydney said firmly. Nadia and Jack both looked at her. "We need her lucid. Just give her a local."

The doctor looked at her doubtfully. "It's gonna hurt like hell pretty soon," he said.

"She can handle a little trauma," Sydney said firmly. The doctor looked at her strangely, then went off to treat his patient.

Sydney had almost hoped that the reason Katya had been so quiet since getting shot was because the pain was getting to her. But she knew the woman well enough to know that this was not the case. This was calculated to improve her position at the bargaining table, and she was no happier about that Jack had been when Nina Myers got her deal yesterday afternoon.

Jack looked at Sydney, then at Nadia. "She's your aunt. What do you think is the best way to play this?" he asked.

"That depends," Sydney countered. "How badly do we want to hear what she has to say?"

"Sydney," Nadia warned.

"She knows about the Covenant, she probably can identify the people behind today's attack, and she'll definitely know what they did with Sloane," Jack argued.

"You don't make a deal with a Derevko," Sydney repeated. "The CIA, the government, and I learned this the hard way. I don't need to learn the lesson again."

Weiss, who had been quiet since explaining that he was going to be handling Katya's security, spoke up. "Syd, are you sure you're the best person to make this decision?" he asked. "I mean, given your history with the woman—"

"I have history with half the people we've dealt with today," Sydney answered. "It doesn't mean I can't work with them."

"Do you think a heavy interrogation will get us the answers we need?" Jack asked.

Sydney considered this for several seconds. She badly wanted to say 'yes', but she knew Katya well enough to know that breaking her bones and pumping her full of chemicals probably wouldn't give them anything, especially not in the time they had.. "No," she finally admitted.

"Then I think our only other option is to make some kind of deal with her," Jack said reluctantly. "It's a shitty trade, but so is almost everything else we have to deal with today."

Just then, Weiss' phone rang. "Yeah?" he said. "All right, they'll be right there." He looked at the others. "Chapelle wants to talk with the three of you right now."

Nadia looked at Eric doubtfully. "You sure you can handle this?"

"Hey, the day started with the building falling on me, and I was promptly shot, and I'm doing well so far. Besides, if something goes wrong here, at least they'll be someone here to fix it."

"Eric—" Nadia warned.

"I'll be fine," Eric assured her. "Besides, I'm betting Chapelle doesn't take kindly to being kept waiting."

Jack and Sydney left. Nadia walked over to Eric, considered his injuries, and settled for squeezing his shoulder. "Stay strong," she said, before following her partners.

**2:30:39/2:30:40/2:30:41**

Barely seconds after Sydney and Nadia encountered Chapelle, who was on the other side of the door with Tony and Sydney's father, he started up with them.

"I hope the two of you realize the trouble you're in," he told both of them by way of introduction

"What exactly did we do wrong, _Mister _Chapelle?" Sydney asked deliberately. "We managed to bring a major terrorist to justice!"

"At the expense of losing one who is far more dangerous," Chapelle turned to Nadia. "However, your violations are far more egregious. You engaged in an unauthorized counter-surveillance of a known terrorist without getting the proper back-up. Then, when you had him and his accomplices cornered, rather then call for appropriate backup, you and your sister unilaterally decided to bring them in on your own. All of that is grievous enough with accounting the fact that the target was your father!"

"Ryan, without her we wouldn't even have had a chance to grab either Sloane or Derevko," Jack started arguing.

Nadia held up a hand. "Thank you, Jack, but I don't need your help." She turned back to Chapelle. "All due respect to CTU, no one wants to see my father brought to justice more than I do. But, with the exception of two other people in this room, no one knows better than I do how he, or the Covenant, thinks. This government has proven over and over again that it has no capacity to deal with Sloane properly—the government believed Sloane as a "philanthropist", and then employed him in exchange for some antiques. And, by the way, considering all the crap that has been raining down on us all day, saying thatwe need your help _now _is the biggest laugh I've had today."

Chapelle looked a little daunted—it was clear he hadn't expected an attack from this combatant. Then he did what he always did when confronted by facts that he couldn't twist—he went back to the letter of the law. "You may not like our protocols, Agent Santos, but they are there for a reason. If I wasn't only 95 percent sure that I could suspend you from the agency without repercussions from Director Chase, I would do it. As it is, I am restricting you and Agent Bristow to administrative duties until further notice."

At this point, Jack Bristow smiled. Sydney half-expected his face to break. "As you yourself said, Ryan, we don't work for you." He leaned over slightly. "We have government passes, and official authorization to be here by virtue of our position. By which standards, you have no authority to even order us out of the building."

Ryan glared at him for a long moment. "Fine," Chapelle said with obvious reluctance. "But you're not going on field ops."

At that moment, Weiss opened the door. Very quickly, he measured the look of the room, and started talking: "The doctor says she's ready."

"All right," Tony said, turning to Jack. "How do you think we should handle this?"

"I think Jack Bristow's probably the best equipped person to deal with her," Jack said. "Given their history."

"I don't have a problem with that," Mr. Bristow said unemotionally as he walked back inside.

Weiss turned to the others. "You can watch from the observation room," he said.

They all left, Sydney stayed behind and waited until Chapelle was about to leave. Then she stiff armed him, her arm stopping him as it hit his chest. She shoved him up against a wall, held there by her as she glared at him. "You, Mr. Chapelle, are a tiny little man," Sydney said roughly. "It's my experience that tiny men like you always reach beyond their grasp. And you have just about exceeded yours."

Sydney didn't look back at Chapelle and see his face darken with hatred as he walked into the interrogation room.

**2:37:15/2:37:16//2:37:17/2:37:18**

The bullets hadn't done enough damage to leave Katya prone. Instead, her injuries had been sewn and bandaged and she was wearing three sets of handcuffs --- both her had hands and legs had been chained together--- and her legs were chained to a table. Sydney's father would have preferred her bound and gagged, but then they wouldn't be able to get what they needed from her.

He looked up at the doctor. "Leave us."

The doctor clearly wasn't happy about this. "Agent Bristow, I realize that this woman is a terrorist, but—"

"There are no 'buts' in the case of this woman," Mr. Bristow interrupted. "You've been true to your oath; now let me be true to mine. Get out."

Reluctantly, the doctor departed. The second the door was closed, he walked over to Katya. "Well, here we are again," Mr. Bristow said. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to be like your sister; tell us what we you think we need to know, and betray us later. Probably would save us a lot of trouble."

Katya remained silent.

"Nothing to say. " Mr. Bristow replied. "Well, maybe you can just tell me something that will assuage my conscience. This afternoon, when the Covenant took my daughter and Bauer prisoner, and tried to 'extract' information from them: did you really think that CTU knew something about the Cyprus audio, or were you just doing that because you wanted to torture my daughter?"

"I'm sorry that happened," Katya said.

"Are you?"

"Yes, it was a waste of resources and manpower."

"Just what we need in the family," Jack Bristow said angrily. "Being a terrorist, a spy or an assassin wasn't enough variety for you; you joined the Covenant to become a bureaucrat." Again Katya was silent. "Jack Bauer doesn't believe that a traditional interrogation will get what we need. He thinks that it would expend too much time and energy. I disagree; I think you'd be particularly receptive to pain in the appropriate places. I particularly think you'd be willing to talk when you realized that you were in the same room with the man who murdered your sister. Especially knowing a man who killed one Derevko would have no problem killing another."

"If you're through with your little rant," Katya said in a surprisingly disinterested tone, "I'm willing to give you the terms on which I will negotiate a deal."

"How generous."

"I will give up all the information I learned about the Covenant in my time with them," Katya began. "This includes cell leaders in America and throughout Europe, the identities of moles we have in this and other governments, and the people who planned today's attack. In exchange, I want a blanket pardon for all the crimes I have committed up to now, along with relocation to a location of my choosing with a false identity."

"I supposed you'd like a pony to go with it," Jack Bristow said sarcastically. "Even Nina Myers didn't get that greedy. "

"Nina Myers didn't have anywhere near the information that I have on the Covenant," Katya pointed out. "Your government's been trying to bring it down for years. With the information I have, you could dismantle it as thoroughly as you did the Alliance in a matter of days. Even your President would be mad to pass up this opportunity."

"Katya, we learned with your sister that those who dance with the devil always get scorched," Sydney's father argued. "What makes you think we're going to make the same mistake twice?"

"For the same exact reason you gave it to Irina; I have information that the government needs, and I'm willing to sell. The price isn't that unreasonable."

Jack Bristow smelled something was up. "There's a catch, isn't there?"

"How astute of you to guess," Katya said. "You're the catch, Jack. And as much as I'd like to see you stuffed and mounted on my mantelpiece, I'll settle for seeing you put in prison for the murder of my sister."

"You Derevkos have an interesting view of justice," Jack Bristow said. "You completely bypassed the part where I am tried for my crime."

"You got around that particular roadblock rather easily when you killed Irina," Katya pointed out. "I could simply ask that I could be allowed to kill you for it, and then be pardoned retroactively. But I'm smart enough to know your President would never agree to that."

"So you'll settle for me being put in prison for the rest of my life."

"I've seen some of the prisons you Americans have. Not as unpleasant as a gulag in Siberia, but there will be bars on the windows and locks on the doors." Katya paused. "Plus even given the highest level of security, I know that eventually another one of your enemies will do to you what you did Irina. Justice delayed is still justice."

Jack Bristow handled this detached announcement of his own funeral by bending over Katya, tearing back the bandage on the wound in her shoulder, and picking up a scalpel. "There are so many ways that I could get the information I need out of you," he whispered. In one swift motion, he put the scalpel in and pushed it in the cavity.

Katya bit down hard to suppress making any noise. The expression on her face was barely a grimace. Her respiration increased marginally. That was all.

"You want to waste time trying to make me scream for mercy, you go on ahead," she said in a mildly annoyed tone. "But if the Covenant plans go according to schedule, Arvin Sloane will be out of the country by dawn. After that, you might never see him again."

At that moment, the phone in the room buzzed. "I'd answer that if I were you," Katya said composedly.

Reluctantly, Sydney's father picked up the phone.

"Leave the prisoner," Tony said.

Jack Bristow rolled his eyes. "Mr. Almeida, I can get what we need---"

"It doesn't matter if you can. " Tony sounded about as happy as Mr. Bristow. "Chapelle's going along with the deal. He's on the phone with Division now."

**2:48:04/2:48:05/2:48:06/2:48:07**

It had taken Sydney less than thirty seconds after meeting Chapelle to hate him--- well before he did the bureaucratic equivalent of sending Sydney and Nadia to their rooms without supper. She had been through far too much today to just take this lying down, so the first thing she had done when she got back to the common area of CTU was to call Director Chase's office. Unfortunately, all she got was her secretary who told her that the Director was in a meeting with Homeland Security.

Her next step had been to call Dixon.

"That son of a bitch," Dixon said. "I knew he was an asshole; I didn't think he was that stupid."

"Is there any way that you can find to get around him?" Sydney demanded. "Isn't the Executive order no longer in play now that the crisis had passed?"

"You're in sort of a catch-22 situation," Dixon replied. "A couple of hours ago Tony sent in a request extending the order until this business with Sloane is resolved. Either Chapelle doesn't know or he doesn't care, and I'm willing to bet it's the latter."

"That, and Tony clearly doesn't think that he can negotiate from a position of strength with the man this early in his new rank," Sydney sighed. "Would it make more sense for Nadia and I to just head back to APO?"

"Honestly, I don't know what you could accomplish there that you couldn't do at CTU," Dixon admitted. "Besides, given everything that you've been through today, I'd think you'd almost welcome the opportunity to take a break."

Sydney managed a wan smile. "You know me by now, Dixon," she said tiredly. "I'm not going to able to rest until we have Sloane back in custody. And neither are you."

"I thought as much," Dixon said. "Look, I can get in touch with Director Chase a lot easier than you can, see if I can find away of getting around the man's orders. In the meantime, you and Nadia hold tight."

"We'll try."

Sydney hung up, then put her hands on the bridge of her forehead. Despite her words to Dixon, she was starting to feel massively exhausted.

"Starting to wish he'd sent you home?"

Sydney didn't even have to look up. "I'm starting to wish I never came in to work today," she said as she turned to face Vaughn.

"I know you don't mean that," Vaughn said.

"Things at APO were almost simple compared to what we've had to deal with today," Sydney said. "I mean yes, we stopped the nuke from destroying LA, and we prevented a war from breaking out in the Middle East, but Sloane is missing, the Covenant has come back with a vengeance, I may not have a unit to come back to tomorrow, and I'm still not a hundred percent sure that my sister will ever talk to me again when this is all over--- if it ever is."

Vaughn put his hands on Sydney's shoulders. "Syd, I could say a lot of bullshit things about the worst being behind us, " he said as he rubbed the back of her neck "but that would be a lie. I can't even tell you that we're about to turn the corner today, because I think things are going to get stickier."

"Now what's going to happen?" Sydney asked resignedly.

"I just talked with Tony. Chapelle's working out the deal with Katya. Along with a proviso that your father be prosecuted for the murder of Irina."

This got rid of Sydney's tiredness in hurry. "That bastard wouldn't dare!" she said as she stood up.

"He's drafting the paperwork now."

Without even thinking, she began running back towards the medical unit.

"This is a pretty big mess that you're putting on my plate," Chapelle said in a loud whisper.

"I'm not interested in making your job easier, Ryan," the voice on the other end said snidely. "In fact, that's what _you're _supposed to be doing for me. Now I don't care how messy it is for you, or how you deal with the fallout: Handle Derevko. _Now."_

Before Ryan could voice any further objections, his cell went dead.

Chapelle wiped some sweat from his brow, and dialed another number on his cell, trying hard not to think of what was going to happen next.

"This is Chapelle," he said abruptly. "We're going to have to do what we talked about earlier." He listened. "Yeah, well I don't care how much of a headache it causes. Just _get it done._" Now he was the one who hung up suddenly, and walked back into the medical center.

"Weiss, could you give me and the prisoner a moment?' he asked.

**2:55:49/2:55:50/2:55:51**

"What the fuck is going on with Chapelle?" Sydney demanded of Jack Bauer.

"Hey, I'm not any happier about this deal than you are," Jack had a look on his face that made it clear he had just lost an argument. "I tried going through with this Ryan; he told me that obtaining Sloane is a higher priority than your father's freedom."

"There's gotta be a way we can work around this," Sydney turned to Tony. "Can't we work some kind of shadow deal out like we did with Joseph Wald? Renege on it if we find out if there's no legitimacy to it?"

Tony shook his head. "Ryan says we can't fuck around with this woman like we would have Wald," he said sourly. "In any case, it's a moot point: he's already gotten the okay from the Attorney General."

"What, he's got the guy on speed dial or something?" Sydney asked suspiciously. "Why is everything with Chapelle on an accelerated pace?"

Before anyone could answer, Jack's cell rang. "Bauer," he said. He listened for a few seconds. "Are you serious?" he asked. "Well, why are they telling us this _now?_" He paused. "Hold on, we'll be right out."

"What is it?" Tony asked.

"That was Chloe. Nina Myers was broken out of a transfer vehicle less than an hour ago," He turned to Sydney. "She and another man were just seen on a surveillance camera at an ATM in Bel Air."

"Why are we only finding this out now?" Sydney demanded.

"Dixon called me on this about an hour ago," Tony said. "Division wanted to keep it internal until the interrogation of Derevko was finished, "

"Yeah, well Chloe says the footage just got sent to her desk. We'd better check this out."

They left the observation room in a hurry.

Katya had just finished looking over the last of the documents that Chapelle had given her. "Everything appears to be order," she said slowly.

"So why aren't you signing?" Chapelle asked, his back to her, hands covertly handling some of the drugs and syringe.

"Because giving my history with the government, especially over the last eighteen hours, it seems you are acquiescing to my demands rather easily."

Ryan shrugged as his hands pulled back on the plunger, and slowly drew the liquid into the syringe. "Well, we do need this done quickly."

Katya put the documents down. "If I didn't know better, I'd say—"

Ryan Chapelle turned on her and nearly jumped on top of her, ramming the needle into her chest, depressing the contents into her heart. One chamber of her heart filled with twenty grams of potassium chloride, inducing a heart attack.

Chapelle pulled out the syringe and headed to the door, only to see it slammed open by Weiss. "Mr. Chapelle—"

Weiss never finished his sentence, as he saw Katya going through her death throes and ran over to her to try and save the woman who had caused his friends so much pain today.

"Somebody get a doctor in here…." He trailed off, as he realized who was the only person who could have done this. He reached for his gun, but his reflexes and synapses were slowed by all of the injuries that he had suffered today.

Chapelle had plenty of time to take one of the scalpels from the med table and lunged for Eric's back, driving him home inside the shoulder blade, right into his pulmonary artery lunged for Eric's back, driving it through, hitting him in the pulmonary artery.

"I know this guy," Sydney said.

"We both have," Vaughn added. "This is Mackennas Cole, we met him when I was still working at SD-6."

"That's a spy?" Chloe asked. "Looks more like a refugee from _Pulp Fiction._"

"Wasn't he supposed to be a prisoner of our government?"

"So are a lot of people that we've dealt with before," Jack Bristow said. "The more pertinent question is why are we only getting this now?"

"I don't…." Chloe trailed off. "Wait a minute," she said. She slowed the footage down. "Look at the time stream. This photo was never authenticated by Division."

"But if they never sent us this data—" It hit Sydney. "It's a distraction! Someone wanted to pull us off Katya!"

As Tony started radioing Weiss, Sydney, Nadia and Jack Bauer rushed back to the medical unit, barely even pausing when they saw the door was open.

When she got inside, Sydney noticed two dead bodies, but her eyes went easily to the one which had a pool of blood around it. "Eric!" she shouted as she cradled her friend's body. "No!"

Eric looked up at her, eyes unfocused. As he smiled, blood dribbled from his mouth. "Hey…" He blinked, going out of focus again as his eyes wandered to the darker form of Nadia. "Chapelle did it… Nadia…I lu…l… "

Eric Weiss's eyes went out of focus again, and became fixed in place, staring sightlessly at Nadia.

The Bristow women began to weep. One for her friend, the other for a lover she had never taken.

**2:59:57/2:59:58/2:59:59/3:00:00**


	20. 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM

**Chapter 20**

**The Following Takes Place Between 3:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M.**

Jack looked at Sydney, her friend having just died in her arms, and knewshe wasn't just going to leave her friend by the wayside and help hunt his killer down.

He couldn't wait. He opened his cell phone anddialed Tony.

"Tony, this is Jack. Lock CTU down!" he ordered. "Katya Derevko's dead. So is Weiss. Lock the place down, and send teams to start checking the exits!"

Jack hadn't finished talking whenthe sirens that went with CTU's lockdown blared to life. In addition to shutting the building down, the CTU teams would search the place room by room. The problem he was pretty sure that the man they were chasing could have used the chaos and his rank to get away.

As he took out his gun and began running to join the security teams, he realized he was shocked by who had betrayed them. He'd always known Chapelle was an asshole, but he never suspected that he was capable of treason and murder.

_Then again, I couldn't see Nina as being treasonous, and----_oh, who am I kidding? He nearly got me killed twice last year: first, give me a hostile sniper, then let the Drazen's have me. I just never thought he would have the guts to kill someone himself.

When he reached the front of the building, Curtis and the teams that he had led earlier were waiting for him. "Main entrance and back entrances are locked down. Jack, who did this?"

"It's Chapelle," Jack said.

Curtis had maintained a pretty stoic façade up until now, but when he heard the Division head's name, he blinked two or three times." You're absolutely sure?"

"He was the only other person in the room with Derevko and Weiss! And he's got enough clearance so they might let him out of the building!" Jack said urgently. "Give me a radio!" He took one from one of the other guards.

"This is Bauer. The man we are looking for is Ryan Chapelle. I want a hard target search of every section of CTU until he is located! If you see him, use caution in apprehending! Subject is considered armed and dangerous, but we need him alive for interrogation!"

Jack got off the radio and turned back to Curtis. "Take a team and search Sector A, I'll lead the team in Sector B. Get two other groups to search the rest of the building. Talk with Tony and have him get all cameras searching every room of the place. We're going to find this son of a bitch!"

---

When the remainder of the APO team heard Weiss and Katya were dead, Vaughn's reaction had been to run back over to medical. As the ranking agent at APO, Jack Bristow knew he could have ordered them to stay put until the lockdown was secure, but he knew both agents well enough that they weren't going to be able to just take Eric's death and go straight to work—this wasn't a Robert Ludlum novel. For that matter, Weiss' death hit him pretty hard too, but he had been doing this for a long time…and after killing his own wife…a woman he still loved, like it or not…Weiss's death wasn't going to slow him down.

So when Jack Bauer got on the intercom, and said that he needed help locating Ryan Chapelle, Mr. Bristow ran over to Tony Almeida and asked: "What do you need me to do?"

Tony walked over to the other female tech. "Chloe's coordinating the security camera footage trying to figure out which way Chapelle went," he said.

"There are two exits out of medical," Chloe said quickly. "One leads to Sector B. Agent Bauer is searching that section now. The other one leads towards the back of the building, closer to the connection with the underground parking lot. Problem is, a lot of the cameras there have been offline since the bombing, and getting them up to a hundred percent hasn't been a priority."

Sydney's father looked at Tony. "Chapelle knows that, and could be using that as a place to hide until he finds a hole in the security big enough to squeeze out of," he pointed out "Have you cancelled his clearance ?"

"We're not idiots, Mr. Bristow, " Chloe said bluntly "That's the first thing Mr. Almeida had me do. If we can figure out the obvious for ourselves, what do we need you for?"

Tony didn't take the time to chastise Chloe—he wanted to think over whether or not he should, considering that Jack Bristow was almost a bigger hemorrhoid than Bauer.. "The problem is someone at Division would have access to a lot of back door and override codes that I don't have the power to supersede. He could overpower one of our security guards, and then use one of those codes to escape the building."

"Mr. Almeida, is Chapelle capable of the brute force necessary to get past security?"

"I wouldn't think so," Tony admitted, "but up until five minutes ago, I wouldn't have thought him capable of murdering two people in cold blood. Chapelle's a bean counter, not a killer."

"Everyone has a dark side," Mr. Bristow said grimly as he began checking the monitors. "Even bureaucrats in this profession have a bloodthirsty streak. How many security guards do you have stationed in the parking lot?"

"Half a dozen," Tony said.

"I assume that they all have radios capable of communicating on DC frequency." DC frequency was a CTU transmitter generally reserved for communications that field leaders wanted to keep enemy agents from intercepting .

"They should," Tony frowned. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm going to try and set some flypaper for our rogue Division head," Jack Bristow said as he took out a radio. "Despite his recent streak of cleverness, I strongly suspect that Chapelle is something of an amateur at betrayal. I'm simply going to use that inexperience in our favor!"

**3:09:20/3:09:21/3:09:22**

Sydney's paralysis over the body of Eric Weiss had been a long one--- nearly nine minutes. She knew that people like her father or the people at CTU would not have been rendered immobile by the death of a close friend. Hell, she had been able to deal with death a lot better than this.

But she couldn't just shrug this off. When she had returned from her two years disappearance to find that her entire life had been destroyed, she had lived with Weiss for several months. Eric had been her rock while everything around her had gone to hell. And now, he was as dead as Francie, and Danny and her mother and George Mason. She just couldn't watch them cover up his corpse and go back to work, even if the traitor who did this was literally in the next room. She needed to be around Vaughn and Nadia, both of whom looked like they were going to fall over if a strong breeze blew in.

Eventually, she became aware of the blaring sirens. She took out her cell phone, wiped her brow, and dialed Marshall's number.

The phone rang twice---- an oddity in itself, as Marshall's hyperactive manner usually had him pick up a phone before its first ring was finished. Sydney guessed that he was going through his own withdrawal.

"Flinkman."

"Where are we on finding Chapelle?" she asked bluntly.

"Agent Bauer and your father are trying to coordinate a search to lure him out into the open," Marshall said, with none of the normal hyperactive exuberance that filled his voice.

"They have any idea where he is?' Sydney asked.

"They think that he's in the parking lot."

Sydney hung up, and reached for her weapon. By now Nadia and Vaughn were both looking up at her. "Where is he?" Vaughn asked dully.

"I'm going to run him to ground," Sydney said simply. "Can either of you help?"

Vaughn nodded. Nadia remained still until the other two were about to leave. "They need to take him alive?" she asked suddenly.

"They need to know who he's working with," Sydney said.

Nadia considered this. "Sydney…I'll be right behind you."

Neither Sydney nor Vaughn needed to ask Nadia what this was about. "CTU will want to interrogate him," Sydney said simply.

"Then you need to make sure they get all the information they need," Nadia said.

Vaughn only asked,"You don't mind if we hurt him first, do you?"

**3:14:28/3:14:29/3:14:30/3:14:31**

Considering that he had no field experience or training in keeping himself hidden, Chapelle was doing a pretty good job in maintaining his invisibility within the parking lot--- if indeed, he was there. Jack hoped that Mr. Bristow's plan would bring the man out of hiding.

"Team Delta checking in," Agent Baker said over the radio, using DC frequency as instructed. "Section D, clear!"

"Copy that," Jack said. "All teams checked. Moving to the westernmost section of the lot."

Now was the time for the maneuver.

"This is Team Beta," Curtis said. "I see someone in Section E, heading north. Request team Delta to rendezvous in northeast corridor."

As Agent Baker checked in with Curtis, Jack turned his station to another frequency. "Marshall, how long until you have video feed?"

"Five seconds," Marshall said in an unnecessarily quiet tone. "The feed is up now."

The videos for the parking lot were currently only working in eastern and northern sections---- the sections closest to the exit of the building. Having just finished a sweep of the western section of the lot, Curtis had given a false order to send the majority of the security force into the southern section. If Chapelle had been listening to the transmission, hearing that would probably send him into the section that was now under surveillance, where Chloe and Marshall could pin him down.

There was a long period of silence before Marshall spoke. "He's in Section B, on the northeast side!"

Jack repeated this order to his security team, and started running over to Section B. He was almost halfway there when a gunshot rang out.

"All teams, Chapelle is in Section B! Converge on that area now!" Jack yelled as his team accelerated their pace.

By the time he got there, Jack could see the body of a fallen security guard. "Talk to me, Marshall! Where is he?" he yelled into his earpiece.

"Heading towards Aisle 15!"

Just then, he saw Chapelle tearing ass less than fifty yards ahead of him. "Ryan, give it up!" he shouted.

Chapelle gave no sign that he had heard them, and he didn't have to because suddenly a shot rang out from his immediate left, and he dropped to the ground, blood dripping from his right kneecap. He gave a high-pitched screech, and dropped to one knee, with whimpers so loud, Jack wanted to cover his ears.

Jack was only slightly surprised when he saw Sydney step out of the shadows with her gun lowered. "Don't kill him," Jack warned.

"Why?" Sydney demanded, her gun slowly inching up. Can you give me one good reason why I shouldn't splatter his brains right now?"

"You didn't let me finish," Jack said. His eyes narrowed at Ryan. "I was going to say _yet._"

"Look, " Chapelle was already groveling."I'll give you everything I have on the people I work for!"

"We haven't begun interrogating him, and he's already singing like a canary." Jack was only a little more surprised to see Vaughn showing up. "You're not even a good traitor, Ryan. The world definitely won't miss you."

"I'm willing to talk!" Chapelle pleaded.

"What explanation could you possibly give that would make us give you a deal?" Vaughn asked. "You murdered our only lead on the Covenant, and you killed my best friend. If you could give a location for Bin Laden, I wouldn't take it from you."

"You talk or you die, Ryan," Jack said bluntly. "How long have you been working for the Covenant?"

"Four years," Ryan said quickly. "Ever since I was promoted to Division."

_That explained a lot_, Jack thought_, I thought he was just a bastard._

"Who ordered you to kill Katya Derevko?" Sydney demanded.

Despite the incredible box he was in, Ryan hesitated. Sydney responded by putting a bullet into his left kneecap. "Who gave the order?!" she shouted again.

His wails echoed down the hall as he rolled on to his back, keeping the pressure off his knees.

"Head of American operations," Chapelle all but yelped. "Mackennas Cole."

Sydney and Vaughn both exchanged a look of surprise. "You know him?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, and so do you," Sydney said. "He was the man with Nina Myers in that footage we got from Division."

Vaughn turned his attention back to Chapelle. "Why did you show footage that incriminated your boss?" he demanded.

"Because it would have incriminated me," Chapelle said. "He ordered me to have Nina Myers transferred so that the Covenant could break her out. Eventually, someone in command would have traced the decision back to me. After I finished taking out Derevko, I was supposed to be extracted. This was my insurance in case Cole tried to fuck me."

There were enough holes in Chapelle's story to drive a small truck through, but Jack figured that the man had no reason to lie, given the severity of the situation he was in.

Jack raised the radio. "Bauer to all teams, we have him in custody. We'll be bringing him in."

Jack signed off, and Sydney said, "Do we have to?"

Bauer looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "I thought you were against killing people in cold blood."

Syd's face hardened in disgust as she gripped her pistol tightly. The urge to kill him almost surpassed her hatred for Sloane. She thought back to the corridor yesterday afternoon, where Jack had the motivation, the inclination, and the desire to send Nina Myers straight to hell, do not pass go, collect $200, or even have a death rattle. And without her needing to say a word, he didn't kill her. Even after they had been captured, tortured,interrogated, and he had a perfect reason to kill Nina, he didn't kill her.

Could she do any less?

She lowered the gun, slowly. "I'll do it your way, Jack."

A new voice from behind them said, "Thank you."

The three of them turned. Nadia was there, waiting, gun ready and waiting. "Step away, Jack. You're in my line of fire."

Jack didn't even twitch.

"Bauer, don't let her kill me, please**__**" Ryan squealed, reaching for Jack…only to have his knees scrape on the ground, causing him to cry out in pain.

Jack looked back at him. "Shut up, Ryan." He looked back to Nadia, and very slowly holstered his gun, and lowered his radio. Without moving out of her line of fire, he grabbed Ryan under the arms, and lifted him up—only half way. Jack made sure to drag both of Chapelle's knees along the ground.

"I'm taking him to the elevator in the parking lot," Bauer said. Ryan's screamed, begging for only an inch more room. Sydney winced as she heard the exposed bone grind on the floor tiles.

Jack opened the garage door, then threw Ryan to the ground, on his back, screaming loud enough for the cameras inside to hear him, "Ryan, don't do it! Put my gun down!"

Sydney and Vaughn blinked. Chapelle was nowhere near Jack's gun. Nadia rushed outside, to the parking lot, and saw Ryan lying on the ground, helpless.

Jack looked up at her and said, "There were cameras in that hallway." His voice lowered as he stepped closer to her, looking into her eyes. "I won't stop you, Nadia. I know how you feel, better than you know. You can walk away, right now, and know he's going to rot in jail for the rest of his life."

"Forgive me for not believing you, Jack. We both know that, whenever it's convenient, whenever they can give someone up, the government will make a deal with anyone: traitors, assassins, terrorists…you can guarantee me nothing."

"You're right, I can't. But do you want to turn into me?"

Nadia allowed herself a small smile. "There are worse people to turn into." She raised her gun an inch, and shot Ryan twice—once in the groin, and once in the stomach. He screamed.

She holstered her gun, looking only at Jack, Ryan already dead to her. "Thank you, Jack," she said quietly.

He smiled sadly, touched her arm, and they both walked away, leaving the smell of urine and excrement behind.

And Ryan Chapelle, Director of Division, traitor, murderer, lay in a puddle of his own waste and fluids, weakly screaming for someone to kill him.

The last thing he ever heard was the echo of his own, weak cries.

**3:26:48/3:26:49/3:26:50/3:26:51**

"Tony, I wanted to take him by the nearest elevator," Jack explained. "He reached for my gun, Nadia had to shoot him.

Tony's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, in the gut and the balls. Those are really necessary shots."

"Mr. Almeida, I don't understand what your problem is," Jack Bristow said. "Ryan Chapelle was a traitor and a murderer. He would have been given a death sentence by the most liberal people in our government."

"This has nothing to do with my feelings for Chapelle. I**__**hated the bastard years before anyone else did. Truthfully, I'm only slightly surprised to see that he betrayed his country. You all knew what Ryan was worth, and nobody tried to stop her," Tony exclaimed.

"you honestly think anyone's going to make a big deal about this?" Jack Bristow asked. "Division's going to be working so hard to keep their asses covered they're not going to mind that the man's dead. There's no family in the picture, so no one will raise a stink if we put Chapelle's death down as a justifiable shooting!"

"You think I have a problem with this because of the _paperwork?!" _Tony was all but shouting now.

"How many people have died today because of the decisions this man made?" Sydney's father pressed. "Don't tell me you're morally outraged at Chapelle's murder, because if you are, you have no business being in this profession!"

Tony leaned across the table, looking quite ready to hurt Jack Bristow—and Syd knew he could do it, too. His file had him down as a certified instructor in Krav Maga…which probably meant he was the best fighter in the room.

As was the case so many other tense occasions, Marshall chose that moment to walk up. "Um, Mr. Almeida, I realize that you've got a lot going on, but if we're going to try and track down Mackennas Cole, we should probably get on it now."

Tony paused a few seconds before nodding.

"What are you going to do with Nadia?" Mr. Bristow asked.

Tony glared at him—but more for questioning his authority than anything else. "I'll let you know. Eventually."

**3:31:17/3:31:18/3:31:19**

Jack walked up to Holding 4. "I'd like to talk with Nadia," he asked Agent Baker.

Protocol dictated that anyone involved in a questionable shooting be held for debriefing…protocol further dictating that only a selected few should talk with said person, but neither of the agents guarding Nadia had any problems letting Jack go in with only a glance.

She was walking around with blood on her shirt, and Jack had no idea whether it was Chapelle's or Weiss'.

"How are you holding up?" Jack asked.

Nadia gave a humorless snort. "Other than that, how'd you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" she countered. When Jack looked blank, she added: "Eric said that when we were in the middle of a screwed-up situation at APO."

"I know what it means," Jack said. "I just don't know if it applies for what's happened here."

Nadia looked at Jack. "I expected to feel this huge amount of relief when I killed Chapelle," she said sadly. "That somehow killing the murderer of the man I loved would ease the pain…But all I feel is this giant numbness, as if my insides had been injected with Novocain. And I'm honestly not sure if I'll ever be able to feel anything other than this pain again."

Jack walked over to Nadia and put his hand on her shoulder. "I wish I could tell you that it gets easier, " he told her, "but it's been more than a year since Teri was killed, and a lot of the pain is still there."

"So I'm fucked?"

He smiled slightly, the bluntness of her conclusion surprising him. "Not necessarily." Jack said. "After Teri died, I pushed everybody away--- Kim, the few friends I had, anyone who I thought could help me. I did it because I didn't think I had the strength." He decided to go the rest of the way. "That's one of the reason I was so willing to go on a suicide run a few hours ago. Because that alternative was easier than dealing with my pain. Now I'll admit I don't know you, but from little I've seen, the people you work with, your sister, Marshall, Vaughn---- they care about you." He paused. "Don't make my mistakes, Nadia. Don't push away the people who care about you. It won't be easy, but they will get you through this."

Before Nadia could answer, Baker opened the door. "Agent Bauer, Tony and Jack Bristow want you on the floor," he said.

Jack nodded. "Look, I have to go---"

"I understand."

He was about to leave the room when Nadia spoke. "Jack," she started, "I don't know what will happen when you run into Myers, but believe me whatever you do to her, it's not gonna get rid of the pain."

"What are you saying?"

"Just try and take your own advice. There are people in this building who care about you, too."

Jack managed a smile. "I think I'm coming to realize that."

**3:37:02/3:37:03/3:37:04/3:37:05**

"All right, Jack," Tony said as the rest of the joint task force assembled in front of the monitor. "It's been a rush job, but by using APO's database, we've been able to put a file together on Mackennas Cole."

"Much of the information we have is fragmentary, but Cole used to work at SD-6," Sydney began. "About eight years, while on an undercover mission in the former Soviet Union, Cole was taken prisoner by the KGB. He was held for an undetermined length of time, and was eventually set free by agents working for two highly dangerous Russians agents: Alexander Khasinau and," Sydney paused "my mother."

At this point, Jack was only minimally surprised to hear another Derevko's name come up in the discussion.

"Roughly five years ago," Jack Bristow continued, "Cole was sent on a mission to reclaim an artifact out of the SD-6 safe. In doing so, he took the entire office hostage, and Sloane prisoner. It eventually fell to myself and my daughter to save the building."

"That must have been fun, considering your position at the time," Chloe interjected.

"It's not one of my fondest memories," Sydney admitted.

Vaughn took up the story. "Cole was captured by the CIA almost immediately afterwards. He disappeared into the bowels of the agency; in fact up until an hour ago, I thought he was still in prison. But Sydney's father and I did some digging and found out that his release was negotiated by Eric Raeburn at NSA."

"Has anyone talked to Raeburn?" Jack asked.

"Raeburn hasn't said word one about anything related to what's happening today since the President relieved him of his command," Mr. Bristow said. "However, we have enough evidence from previous investigation to know that the Covenant had many links within that particular branch of government."

He and Vaughn exchanged a glance that Jack couldn't quite understand, but decided at this point it was better not to press. "What's Cole's link to the Covenant?"

"We're not a hundred percent sure," admitted Sydney. "The man who provided the best intel we have on the Covenant told us that Cole was one click away from whoever it was is the ultimate man behind the curtain. Problem was, we had work with this man on numerous occasions; on none of them did he tell us anything that didn't serve his own self-interest. For all we know, Cole could just be another in a long line of straw men."

"There any way we can talk to this source?" Tony asked.

"Last time we checked, he was on the other side of the country," Vaughn said. "And we're not certain _he's _where he's supposed to be."

"Never mind that," Jack said. "You've enhanced the picture of Cole that we got from Chapelle?"

"Yeah, we're getting videos to everybody," Chloe said, as she put a picture of Cole on one of the main monitors.

Chloe's glib description of Cole as a 'Pulp Fiction' refugee, while not inaccurate, didn't do the man justice. His posture was odd: his upper body looked like he was slouching while still on his feet, while his head was lowered like he didn't have the energy to raise it all the way up. His legs were relatively straight as he strutted like a chicken on the bus. And he wore a suit like it was badly fitted on him.

"Does anyone have a clear idea why he would work so hard to bust Nina Myers out of prison?" Sydney asked.

"We've gone through everything we have on both of them," Michelle said. "We don't see any obvious links between them."

"They're both mercenaries who will betray their governments to the highest bidder," Sydney's father said. "And they both are responsible for some part of today's tragedy. We don't need much more of a link than that."

"The video that we got from Division, do we have any leads on where Cole and Myers are now?" Jack asked.

"The video tape was an hour old when we got it," Marshall said. "Whatever evidence we might be able to get from that doesn't have much value now."

"What about Chapelle's cell?" Sydney asked

"We're running down the last calls he received," Chloe said. "He received three calls in the last hour from a number that we're having a lot of trouble back-tracing."

"Could it be Cole?"

"Probably, but there's no way__we can get a definite lock unless…."

Suddenly, a phone rang. This was a non-event except for one detail.

It was Chapelle's phone.

**3:44:22/3:44:23/3:44:24**

Mackennas Cole let the phone ring exactly three times before terminated his call. "Well, ain't this a bitch?" he said turning to Nina. "I hope you weren't great friends with Ryan Chapelle.

"Well, he put me in prison, which is a point against him," Nina said. "But he did help me get pardoned, which is an argument in his favor."

"Ryan Chapelle has been a great disappointment to us," Cole said breezily. "We invested a great deal of money in getting his services. Like our good friend Arvin Sloane, he was supposed to make sure that today's project went off without a hitch. As you're no doubt aware, there have been far too many hitches today."

"Los Angeles is not a radioactive crater, Mr. Cole," Nina argued. "That suggests more than a snag in the project."

Cole shook his head. "It was such a good plan," he said agitatedly. "The fucking bomb didn't even have to go off for it to work. But now that Derevko double-crossed us--- or maybe triple-crossed, I have no goddamn idea how many angles she was working----- the whole structure of what's been holding the Covenant together may completely collapse."

"I'm sorry, I came rather late to this movie," Nina said. "But what does any of this have to do with Chapelle?"

"Chapelle was supposed to remove Derevko as an obstacle, and check in when it was done. The fact that he's not answering his phone can only indicate that he has proven as inadequate a murderer as he was a mole." Cole shook his head. "Frankly, I don't why the fuck the Covenant puts so much of its money into double agents. They are often so inadequate at just being single agents." He looked at Nina again. "Present company included."

"Not that I mind being part of your bitch-session," Nina said hostilely, "but what does any of this have to do with why you've got to such lengths to get me and Sloane out of the hands of the government? This seems a rather elaborate production if you're just going to kill us."

"If we wanted you dead, you'd be dead," Cole said, almost matter-of-factly. "The fact is, now that the operation is rivaling _Hudson Hawk _as a failure, the Covenant's going to be looking for scapegoats. Unfortunately, in my case, that means the buck stops here. My head is on the chopping block, and the only way for me to get out of their bombsights is to get enough leverage from the American branch, so that the other high-echelon members will have to think long and hard about risking another strike against me."

"You make it sound as though you're a lot bigger in the Covenant than you seem to be," Nina argued.

"Honey, not to be immodest here, but when it comes to the Covenant's work in this country, _l'etat es moi._ " Cole said. "But given everything that's gone to shit today, whatever higher-ups there are aren't going to be that forgiving. Hence the maneuvering with you and Arvin." An unpleasant smile graced Cole's countenance. "That bastard's not gonna to be happy to be in my debt."

"So you've liberated me and Sloane, but Katya Derevko's probably talked, and Chapelle at best is incapacitated," Nina argued. "How exactly are you going to turn this into a win?"

"I've got one last play to make," Cole began dialing again. "This thing works, it'll be the biggest rabbit you ever saw pulled out of anything."

**3:50:31/3:50:32/3:50:33/3:50:34**

"I think I got something from Chapelle's cell," Marshall said. "I didn't have any luck triangulating the last calls, but I recognized one number from earlier today."

"From where?" Tony asked.

"From one of the files we pulled off Bob Warner's computer," Marshall said. "It belongs to an Alexander Trepkos."

"What's his connection to the Covenant?" Jack asked.

"Essentially, he's one of their financiers. The majority of his money is in oil interests in the Mediterranean, but I took a deeper look," Marshall typed some keys on his computer, "and it turns out he's on the board of investors of Star-Crossed Industries."

By now, everybody at CTU knew that Star-Crossed was a front for some of the more legitimate business interests the Covenant had. "Well, that explains why he's important to us," Sydney said. "Why would Chapelle be calling him?"

"According to the cell, Trepkos called Chapelle less than half an hour before he showed up here," Chloe said. "I got the cell company to get the record of their conversation."

'You're not supposed to call me here' Even in the recording, Chapelle's voice sounded tense.

"'Your agency wasn't supposed to find the bomb,' Trepkos' voice sounded unusually calm and alert, considering the hour. 'At this juncture, it's a little late to be arguing about protocol.'

'Your people fucked up this operation, not me!'

'I'd be very careful what tone I use when talking to me. The next person I'm going to call will be Mr. Cole. You know what happens when he gets pissed off."

"Yes, Mr. Trepkos.' Chapelle's voice had a subdued tone that no one at CTU associated with him.

"You had better make sure that CTU doesn't get its hands on Katya Derevko. Otherwise, the money we've deposited in your accounts will be removed. And you will be very lucky if that's the only thing you lose.'

'What about getting me out of here?'

'You really think you've earned the right to escape from the mess you've made?'

'If you people get rid of me, you might not have a problem. But if CTU catches me, there will be ramifications even your organization will have trouble recovering from. And I'm not dumb enough to not have left some measures to guarantee my safety.'

A pause on the other end. 'I have a meeting with another client at 5,' Trepkos said finally. 'If you make it there, and you've cleaned up accordingly, we can discuss a successful exit strategy. Otherwise, my best advice would be to run and hide.'

'Stop' Sydney said. "Do we have an LA address on Trepkos?"

"Yeah," Marshall said. "476 Rockland Avenue, just south of Brand Park in Burbank."

"All right Jack," Tony said. "you and Sydney pick Trepkos up."

"All due respect, Mr. Almeida, but I think that's the wrong move," Mr. Bristow argued. "Getting Trepkos doesn't get us any closer to Sloane or Cole. For all we know, he might just be one of the high end money man."

"What are you thinking?" Sydney asked.

"That we stake out Trepkos' office, find out who his 5 A.M. is, and get a line into whatever records he has then. We'd probably have a better chance at getting some of the higher echelon people, including Sloane."

"Tony, I think that's the right play," Jack agreed.

Tony only hesitated briefly. "All right," he agreed, "we'll try it your way. Jack, Sydney, you'll run point. "

"I want Curtis and Nadia for support," Sydney said.

"Curtis is fine, but I can't use Nadia until I hear back from District."

"Come on, Tony," Jack argued. "She had just cause."

"I happen to agree with you, but you both know the higher-ups are going to raise thirteen shades of hell about this, and I can't just sent the agent who killed a Division Director in the field without some investigation," Sydney glared at Jack. "She can leave holding and work on the floor, but Nadia can't go into the field."

Sydney decided not to press to point. "All right, then I want Vaughn," she said.

"Not a problem," Tony said. "Get suited up."

As Jack, Sydney and Vaughn headed towards the garage, Marshall began typing up the mission profile and sent it to the main board. At least, that's what he thought he did.

"Marshall, I already have access to the file on Cole. Why did you send it to me again?" Chloe asked harshly.

Marshall blinked several times before realizing that he had, in fact, done just that. "Ah, hell I'm sorry. I don't--- I mean it' just that…" He stumbled verbally for a couple of seconds. "It's just--- this has been a really long day."

"We're used to it.****This happens every now and then at CTU," Chloe said with a surprising sympathy. "You get used it if you work here for long enough. The good news, you probably won't be here much longer."

Marshall wasn't certain whether that was encouragement or an insult. After a few seconds, he decided to stop trying to figure out, and started to actually send the mission profile where it was supposed to go.

---

"We have to assume Chapelle is dead," Cole said over the phone.

"The Covenant's not going to be happy that another one of our moles has been exposed," Alexander Trepkos responded. "I'm not happy about it, either."

"I'm not exactly jumping for joy that everything we've worked on is on the verge of collapsing," Cole snapped at him. "Right now, we need to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I'm going to reassembling the remainder of our American operations. After that, we're going to get the fuck out of Dodge and get back to work on our other major project. In the meantime, Katya was good enough to arrange things so that most of our loose ends have been eliminated." Cole paused. "With one obvious exception."

"I'm scheduled to meet with her in an hour," Trepkos said calmly.

"Then I will remind you _not_ to screw up. Sherry Palmer has enough information to make a big mess. She has to be handled _now._"

**3:59:57/3:59:58/3:59:59/4:00:00**


	21. 4:00 AM to 5:00 AM

**Chapter 21**

**The Following Takes Place Between 4:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M.**

Sydney wasn't sure, but she thought that Jack had been surprised that she had elected to ride with Vaughn instead of with him. But she knew hadn't spent nearly enough time with Vaughn today, and she was also well aware, given what had happened at CTU in the past hour, that her boyfriend was in need of some serious comforting. For that matter, she wasn't completely all right with what had happened to Eric, either, but she, at least, was a little more used to people that she loved dying because of the job she had. And considering that the most serious death that Vaughn had dealt with in the past five years was her own, and that had turned out to be a fake out, she had no idea how she could handle it.

As they drove out of CTU towards Burbank, Sydney was a little surprised when Vaughn made the first move. "I ever tell you how I met Eric?" he asked.

"No, I don't think so," Sydney admitted.

"He was one of the ranking junior agents at the LA office, when I joined the company in 1996," Vaughn began. "We were on a taskforce scheduling this suburban militia group of out Westwood of all places. It was a nothing thing, the 'group' had maybe half a dozen members, but it was just a few months after McVeigh hit Oklahoma City, so the Agency was taking everything seriously. Anyway, he and I got handed the wiretapping of this 'head terrorists' phone calls."

Vaughn actually managed a smile. "By the end of the first forty-eight hours, it would have been obvious that the most dangerous things this guy was ordering over the phone was Jalapenos for his pizza, but they kept us out there for a week, before they were willing to admit that there was nothing here. So Eric and I did what I guess every other agent does when you're handed an assignment that you know is a waste of the taxpayer's money. Played a lot of cards--- no surprise, he won like ninety percent of the games----- spent a lot of time talking about our life stories--- " he lowered his voice "---- my reasons for joining the Agency were far more interesting then his, but that's a story for another day, and he did quite a few magic tricks. By the end of the week, we were practically friends for life."

Sydney was reluctant to ask the next question, but she found out that she needed to know this. "Did he have any family?"

Vaughn looked a little surprised at this. "I thought---- didn't you live with him for three months?" he asked.

"I did," Sydney admitted, "but I was so caught up in everything that had happened to me over the past couple of years that we never really talked much about it."

"Pretty sure that his parents are still alive," Vaughn said, thinking. "They still live out in Hoboken, Eric hasn't---" he cleared his throat "hadn't gotten out to see them in a few months. He had three younger sisters, all of who lived on the East Coast. He didn't see much of them, either, and I'm betting that none of them knew what he was doing in LA. " He looked straight at the road. "Honest truth of the matter, over the fast few months, we were probably closer to Eric than the people he was biologically related to." Now he swallowed. "And I'm probably going to have to tell them I got him killed."

"Vaughn, you know that none of this is your fault," Sydney told him. "You're not responsible for Chapelle's actions any more than we are."

"Am I?' Vaughn asked. "I got him to transfer to APO, I thought that he could handle Katya on his own. He survives getting blown up and shot point blank in the chest, and I want him guarding a Derevko. What the fuck was I thinking?"

"No one ever forced Eric Weiss to do anything," Sydney argued. "He came to work today because he wanted to the job. He knew that there was danger in it, that death was a possible consequence, and he did it regardless."

"You want to know what galls me the most," Vaughn said. "I knew the man for nearly a decade, and I couldn't bring myself to avenge the man who killed him. Instead, I put the burden on your sister, and now she's going to have to carry this for the rest of her life."

Even though this worried Sydney, too, she tried to gloss over it. "Eric meant as much to you as she did to Nadia," she told him. "If you had killed Chapelle, she'd feel as if she did nothing to respond to the man who killed someone she loved. "

"And you think that burdens a lighter one?" Vaughn said. "Syd, I murdered a woman that I thought I was in love with once. And even though she was the worst kind of traitor, I still feel some remorse over killing her. I wouldn't wish that burden on anyone, and now Nadia, who's got so many other loads to carry already, now has to carry this one, too. And for that I am truly sorry. She's already got a lot of grief, she doesn't need this guilt, too."

Sydney wanted to tell Michael that her sister was a strong enough woman to handle it. But the bitter truth was she wasn't completely convinced of this. She remembered something Will had told her the last time she had seen him, after he killed Francie's clone--- that the closure he had thought he would have come after killing Alison Dorian hadn't occurred. Nadia could carry the loss of Eric, she could carry the murder of Chapelle, but could she carry the loss of all the other important people in her life today?

**4:09:36/4:09:37/4:09:38**

In a move that probably would have shocked everybody at APO for generosity, Jack Bristow had offered to call Division and update them about what had transpired over the past hour. Tony had considered this with some longing, but eventually rejected it. This was not a call that Tony particularly wanted to make, but he was coming to realize that this was one of the uglier parts of being in command, and one he'd have to accept.

He had also reluctantly decided to use Dixon as his shield between the higher echelon assholes like Brad Hammond and Alberta Green. Tony didn't relish doing this either--- Marcus had proven himself to be a friend today---- but he thought given the circumstances, Dixon would understand.

That he had made the right call became clear when Dixon asked his first question: "How's Nadia handling it?"

"In the space of five hours, she's learned that her father has betrayed her country again, her aunt tried to nuke the city, both her aunt and someone I understand to be her boyfriend were murdered. After _that, _she basically turned vigilante and killed the man responsible," Tonysaid brusquely. "Quite frankly, I'm amazed Nadia is still upright."

"_**She's like her sister**_," Dixon said slowly. "They do a great job at _**remaining**_ steadfast. Only people who get close to them see how badly they're really hurting. It's going to be awhile before we see how deep the damage is."

"_**Marcus… I'm**_ sorry about Eric," Tony said grievously.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Dixon responded. "Nobody could have suspected that Chapelle was capable of this kind of treason. As for Nadia with Ryan…You know how it works_**, Tony. **_If Chapelle had lived, the ink on his deal would be drying right about now. Division is going to say Nadia allowed her emotions to take precedent over the greater good, though how having a bastard like Chapelle alive is part of that good is beyond me… Look, I'm going to try and get on top of whatever inquiry team the brass ends up sending. Hopefully, we can get Nadia out of this with a minimum of effort."

"Let me know whatever I can do to help," Tony said.

"Where are you on this Trepkos?'

"I've sent a team out to try and follows Mr. Bristow's original plan," Tony said. "I've also got Marshall and Chloe working on putting a tap in on Trepkos' phone line. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a lead where to find Cole, and figure out what his next move is."

"Didn't we have a lead on Trepkos back when we got started this morning?" Dixon asked.

"Yeah, but then we got the bomb site in Panorama City, and the lead on Sayed Ali," Tony admitted. "What can I say, Marcus? We dropped the ball. Sometimes it happens on days like today."

"Well, let's hope that it doesn't cost us any more than it already has."

**4:16:03/4:16:04/4:16:05/4:16:06**

Trepkos' office was in the business section of Burbank, in a building that, compared to the nearby offices of Lockheed and NBC, was a diminutive eight stories tall. However, there were some signs straight off that this wasn't your typical building.

"It's four in the morning a few hours after an atomic bomb goes off," Sydney said as they drove by the building. "Why on earth would anyone still be working?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that Trepkos works on the fourth floor," Vaughn said, as he looked at the exterior. Every window in the place was dark except for the one on that level.

Just then the radio connecting this car to Jack's buzzed. "Sydney, don't park, just keep the car moving," Jack aid without preamble.

"You really think that Trepkos is looking out his window right now?" Sydney asked.

"I'm betting he won't have to," Jack said. "I saw at least one sentry near the front entrance of the building, and if this guys Covenant affiliated, that's probably not the only one. We need to avoid attracting attention as long as possible."

"Copy that," Vaughn took out his phone and began dialing.

"Marshall Flinkman."

"Marshall, it's Vaughn. We're on site. We're pretty sure that Trepkos is in the building, but we don't think he's alone. I need you to do a thermal scan of the building; find out how many hostiles are and where."

"All right."

"Where are you and Chloe on tapping in Trepkos phone records?" Sydney asked.

"Well, um, there's no record of a cell in Trepkos name, which is weird if you're an ordinary California businessman, and normal if you're working for the Covenant. Star-Crossed Industries has a record of him having a landline, but tapping into it may be a problem. The phone companies are still going over the excess of calls over today's attack," Marshall grimly related "There are still a lot of overburdened lines, and it may still take a while getting through to that carrier. Frankly, I think that the fastest way to get tapped into Trepkos line is to do it on site."

"And we do that with some of the technology you gave us before we set out?" Sydney asked

"Correctemundo," Marshall said with a flash of his normal spirit.

Before the tea ms had set out from CTU, in preparation for an occasion just like this, Marshall had given Sydney and Vaughn a package of some of the more _**advanced equipment **_that he had been working on.

The most relevant piece of gear was a Marshall-enhanced version of a laser mic. As he had explained it, "It slices, it dices it…well, no it doesn't, but it does what all laser microphones do—laserbeam, hits window, and brings out all ambient sound from the room, right? However, in this case, I upped the strength on this baby, al all you need to do is point it at the room of your choice, point and click, and presto…" He had blinked a moment, and added, "The strength part comes in when the bad guys are on the phone. Normal laser mics are useless with getting both sides of a conversation. In this case, not so. Essentially, all you'd need to do to tap to Trepkos' phone is drive by the office, place it across the street at his office window, leave and turn the transmitter in the car on."

And now, in her own car, she frowned, thoughtfully. Sydney said, "Where are you on the thermal scan?"

"Hang on," Marshall was away from his phone for less than five seconds. "All right, we're picking up nine heat signals in the building, six of them on the fourth floor. Only one of them is stationary, I think we can assume that's Trepkos. Three of them are position around the front of his office, the other two appear to be doing sweeps of the floor."

"What about the exterior?' Jack asked.

"We've got another five sweeping the perimeter of the building, all at ground level," Marshall said. "Considering the amount of protection this guy has you'd think this guy was royalty."

"It does seem a little like overkill," Vaughn replied.

"Never mind that," Jack said. "Marshall, I need you to feed their patterns and positions on your screen, and send it to Sydney's and my Palm Pilot."

"How are we going to play this?" Sydney asked Jack.

"One of us is going to create a minor distraction at the perimeter," Jack said. "Just a commotion, we don't want to engage the enemy yet. Then the other's going to place the mike near Trepkos' window. Then we get out as quickly as possible."

"There a reason we aren't just getting ready to grab Trepkos?' Vaughn asked.

"Two. This guy is probably our best chance of finding Cole."

"So, why not call CTU for backup, we grab him and we go after him with both barrels." Vaughn asked. "I mean, it's not as if the clock is running anymore. They have to gotten Sloane out of the country by now, unless they're complete fools."

"I wouldn't underestimate that possibility," Sydney said, "but Vaughn is probably right."

"We may end up doing that," Jack admitted. "But I don't know how much effort it's going to take to break Trepkos."

"He's a financier, not a psychopath," Sydney pointed out.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive," Jack pointed out. "Besides, some bankers have the tolerance to get through that kind of interrogation." There was a pregnant pause before he continued. "I think that your father's strategy is still the best one we have. That means getting into his phone and his computer."

"What's the second reason?" Curtis asked.

"Even simpler," Jack said. "I want to know who his five a.m. is."

**4:23:16/4:23:17/4:23:18**

"An incident like this happens, you are supposed to inform Division immediately!"

_Leave it to Brad Hammond to refer to quantify the murders of three people as an _incident, Tony thought to himself. "Sir, I don't have to tell you how busy things have been today," he argued, knowing as he did this was a _fait accompli._ "We're in the middle of an effort to retrieve the head of the American cell of the Covenant. I thought that this was a higher priority."

"Well, you haven't held your position long enough to make those kinds of calls," Hammond said in the don't-fuck-with me tone that Tony was pretty sure was the only one the man had. "I should have heard about this from you straight away, not relayed second-hand by a refugee from another unit!"

Tony wasn't sure whether it was the lateness of the hour, the fact that he was in charge now and Division had done nothing to help them, but he lost his cool with the Division head.

"First of all, calling Marcus Dixon a refugee is a disservice to everyone working at APO today," he started. "Second, I don't know why you've decided to overlook this, but Ryan Chapelle was a traitor and a murderer, certainly not someone we should be mourning. And while were on the subject, his duplicity suggests that there may be more corruption in your own house then there is in mine!"

There was a pause on the other end. "I don't like what you're insinuating, Tony." Hammond's tone had gotten sterner, if such a thing were possible. "Especially considering that you allowed another mole for the Covenant to work alongside you for most of the day without any hindrance."

Tony would have laughed if it weren't so serious. "The only reason we worked with Sloane was because we were ordered to by this office. So don't try to use that as a club against me or APO!"

"We're straying rather far from the point," Hammond's voice was business-like again. "No matter what his allegiance was, I will not have Ryan Chapelle's execution swept under the rug. I will be sending a team to investigate in and the actions of Agent Santos. Unless you want _**formal**_ repercussions, I suggest that you don't interfere anymore with this process than you already have."

"When?" Tony asked, knowing the answer.

"Immediately."

Tony really didn't want to deal with this, so he was grateful when Chloe chose that moment to reappear. "Chloe, where are we with Trepkos?" he asked.

"Jack and Sydney have been getting in position. We'll have a connection with Trepkos' phone line in two minutes."

Tony returned his attention to the phone call. "Brad, I have to go. You want to send your team in, fine. But we're within minutes of finally getting the people behind today's attack. So make sure that you're people stay the hell out of our way until we can finish cleaning up this mess!"

And with that Tony did something he wouldn't have dreamed of doing twelve hours earlier: he hung up on Brad Hammond.

**4:29:33/4:29:34/4:29:35/4:29:36**

Considering all of the things that had gone wrong today, getting the laser mike in position on Trepkos' phone line had gone almost flawlessly.

By using the Palm Pilot, Sydney managed to position herself by side of the building while two of Trepkos' guards had been walking by. She had done a modified version of one of her aliases--- acting like a slightly freaked out tourist in an unfamiliar section of LA, adding a slurred version of Spanish with a flawless accent. Her freaking out had forced the sentries to move in and to call__in two others.

In the meantime, Vaughn had hurried over across the street from Trepkos' building and positioned the mike at Trepkos' window.

By the time both Sydney and Vaughn had gotten back to their__vehicle, it was transmitting to the speaker that they had in it.

"All right," Sydney said as got on the radio to Jack. "The mike is in position. "

"Copy that. Marshall," Jack asked. "How long will it take you to start getting records of the most recent calls Trepkos made?"

"Well, um, what exactly should I be looking for?"

"Any calls that connect us with some of the people involved in today's attack ---- Cole, Sloane, even Nina Myers wouldn't surprise me now."

No sooner had Sydney finished speaking than Trepkos' ringing phone could be heard over the bug.

"I guess this what you call getting lucky," Vaughn said.

"Yes," Trepkos' voice was as cool as it had been when they had heard him talking to Chapelle.

"It's me." The woman's voice was unfamiliar, at least to Sydney.

"Sherry," Trepkos' adopted a tone of mock surprise, "I wasn't expecting to hear from you for half an hour."

"Well, there's been a change in plan, _Alexander_." Now the woman sounded a bit annoyed. "But you should know that by now. Almost every plan you've made today has come to ruin."

"Marshall, I want you to run this through voice recognition software---" Sydney began.

"We don't have to." For possibly the first time today, Jack sounded thrown. "I know who this is. It's Sherry Palmer."

The look on Sydney's face might have been comical under other circumstances. "Sherry Palmer, as in the President's ex-wife? The woman who was busted conspiring__with Stanton and Sloane?"

"What's she doing even talking to this guy?" Vaughn was only slightly less surprised.

"Quiet," Jack said. "Let's see what she has to say."

**4:34:06/4:34:07/4:34:08**

"You're in no position to be making demands of me, considering that this as much your failure as it is ours, _**COMMA**_" Trepkos said.

"I've done everything the Covenant has told me to do," Sherry _**barked**_. "No one's done more than me over the past six months to help your organization make a major inroad into how our country works."

"That's all very well, Sherry, but that's not what we made contact with you to do. "

"Don't blame me for the failure of today's attack. Those were Cole's failures, not mine. I told you that unless your evidence was completely flawless, my husband would never declare war in the Middle East, no matter how nervous you made the Joint Chiefs."

There was a pregnant pause. "I wouldn't go elaborating our failures, Mrs. Palmer." Trepkos' voice became icier. " We had many jobs to deal with today. You had one--- to get back into the President's inner circle. We had to sacrifice people like Raeburn and Stanton to make sure that happened. And you failed, completely. What possible reason should the Covenant have for not _terminating_ our arrangement?"

Now Sherry was the one who paused. "Because," Mrs. Palmer said slowly, "unlike some of the less intelligent people within your cabal, I made a contingency plan. One that will expose your organization far worse than anything else that has happened today."

"We've already been exposed."

"I don't mean the bringing to light of today's plan, Alexander. That can be laid at the feet of a select few, who I'm pretty sure you've already set up. I'm talking about the kind of revelations that would completely obliterate the Covenant's operations in America."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've got a hard disk which contains every contact I've made with the Covenant since I joined the organization." For the first time, Palmer's wife sounded more confident than Trepkos. "There are some very crucial names on the list. Congressional aides, Pentagon officials, intelligence directors. If anything should happen to me, that list will go to the executor of my estate, and he will know exactly how to make use of it."

There was a longer hesitation as Trepkos considered this. "Assuming that this is true, what do you want in exchange?"

"You must be mistaking me for a fool, Alexander. I'm not making any deals about this list until I have some guarantees. And I'm not going to negotiate over the phone."

"Then come into my office, like we planned."

Sherry Palmer actually managed a laugh at this. "And then you kill me the second I leave? No chance," she insisted. "We meet in neutral territory, out in the open."

Another long pause. "All right," Trepkos agreed. "Marina Del Rey, along the harbor, thirty minutes"

"Alone," Sherry insisted. " Any of your thugs show up, I disappear and the list finds it way into the wrong hands."

And with that Sherry Palmer terminated the call.

**4:40:11/4:40:12/4:40:13/4:40:14**

"Vaughn, how hard would it be to get into Trepkos' office?" Jack asked.

Vaughn was only mildly thrown by the question. "It wouldn't be that hard," he said. "Marshall could probably figure out the security in a matter of minutes, and APO does have some experience getting into secure buildings."

"All right, here's how I want to play this," Jack said. "Curtis and I are headed to Marina Del Rey. We break the speed limit, we might have a chance of getting there before Trepkos does. Vaughn, you wait until Trepkos and his team leave the building, and then I want to you get into his office, and do what we came here to do: get into the main__files, find any information you can that might help us with the Covenant. "

"Got it," Vaughn said.

"Sydney, you wait until his thugs leave the building, then you start heading towards the rendezvous point. Don't worry about Vaughn, I'll call CTU and get them to send backup."

"I can take care of myself," Vaughn pointed out.

"I know you can," Jack _**said, "**_but we don't need to lose anymore people today. Besides, if Trepkos' thugs catch you, that'll throw a monkey wrench into what's going to happen next."

"Do you really think she has this list, Alex?"

"You know how cunning Sherry Palmer is; that's part of the reason we recruited her," Trepkos said into his cell. "My guess this is just the kind of leverage that she'd hang on to in case something like this happened."

"You have any idea where she'd keep this disk?"

"It's got to be some place the President would know about."

Mackennas Cole made a gagging sound. "You're telling me after everything she's done, she'd be sentimental enough to… " He trailed off. "I guess the President would still mourn the mother of his children. Besides, letting him know falls under the category of mutually assured destruction."

"How do you want me to play this?" Trepkos had now reached the level of the garage where his car was parked.

"How much of your team did you send out to the harbor?"

"Half of them have headed out; the others are awaiting my orders."

"Well, don't just sit on your ass!" Cole spat out. "In case you haven't noticed, our numbers in this country are getting a little thin. Make sure they can handle the situation."

"Do you want me to have Sherry Palmer killed?" Trepkos asked as he got into his car.

"Not until you find out how much she knows. We can't risk it until I can send some people to search her apartment and find this fucking disk!"

"How long will that take?"

"Give me half an hour. As soon as I hear back, I'll give you the go-ahead to kill that goddamn bitch!"

**4:45:30/4:45:31/4:45:32**

Sydney had offered to stay behind with Vaughn until CTU showed up, but he had insisted that she hurry up, saying that Bauer was more likely to need her help than he was. Nor was this bravado on his part. From his location a block away from the building, he had counted twelve people leaving the building. Assuming that Trepkos had departed with them, that left three, a manageable number. Because he was not a fool, he had asked Marshall to run a second thermal scan of the building.

"I count one sweeping the perimeter and there are still two on the fourth floor, around Trepkos' office," Marshall said.

"Damn it!" Vaughn exclaimed. "Trepkos probably tasked them there to wipe his hard drive! I gotta get up there before they finish!"

Even in his haste, Vaughn did not forget the essentials, checking his Palm Pilot to make sure of the outside guard's position. He crossed the street while the sentry was still on the far side of the building, then ducked into the shadows while the guard crossed turned the corner. This was no time for chivalry; Vaughn shot him in the back.

A search of the fallen sentinel's body revealed a keycard, which Vaughn used to get into the workplace. If the remaining guards saw him in the camera that guarded the building ----- well, it would be bad, but there was a reason he had armed himself thoroughly before crossing the street.

Vaughn ran up the stairs to the fourth floor. He tried to be as stealthy as possible, but it was futile---- halfway across, the two remaining sentries started shooting at him.

_There goes the no-hitter, _Vaughn thought as he took out the RF Micro he had brought with him, hit the wall and emptied the clip.

One of the sentries went down in less than five seconds. The second fired four more rounds, before whirling and running. Vaughn shot the last one twice in the leg before he collapsed in a heap.

Vaughn ran over to the fallen guard, and knelt over him. "Where is Mackennas Cole?" he demanded.

The guard was stoic, despite his pain. Vaughn kicked him in the crotch. "Where is Cole?" he repeated

"I don't know!" the guard shouted in pain. "Trepkos kept a lot of things on a need to know basis! Only a couple of the higher echelon guys knew stuff about guys like Cole!!"

Vaughn was pretty sure the man was lying, but right now getting Cole's location was Jack and Sydney's protocol more then it was his. "Why did he leave you behind?" he insisted.

"I was here to wipe his computer, make sure that there was nothing left linking him to today's events!"

"That it?" Vaughn pressed.

"Guy named Ryan Chapelle was supposed to show up at 5," the sentry admitted. "We were supposed to take him out when he showed."

"Did you delete all the files?"

The guard was breathing heavy now. "We only got about halfway done," he admitted.

Vaughn nodded, picked the guard's head up, and slammed it against the floor. Then he took out his cuffs and locked up his prisoner.

As he walked into Trepkos office--- it wasn't that hard to find, it was the only one that had the lights on--- he took out his phone, and dialed CTU.

"Marshall, it's Vaughn. Tell the back-up team that two of the Covenant's sentries are dead, I have one prisoner incapacitated. They tried to wipe Trepkos' hard drive, I'm going to need your help getting whatever information I can get off it."

**4:51:41/4:51:42/4:51:43/4:51:44**

Tony walked over to Chloe. "Do you have the satellite posted over the Marina?" he asked.

"It's going be another couple of minutes."

"Chloe, Jack and Sydney are going to be there any minute," Tony pointed out.

"I'm well aware of that, Mr. Almeida, but I'm not Power Girl," she said darkly. "The latest satellite was posted over Burbank; in case you've forgotten that's all the way across town from their new location. I can probably get it up by the time they get there, but it's gonna take some maneuvering." Tony stared at her. "And glowering at me isn't going to make the satellite move any faster."

Tony decided his energy could be concentrated better elsewhere, but before he could walk over to Marshall, Brad Hammond came storming into CTU. Even though the majority of Chapelle's team had been tasked to other stations, Hammond also showed up with a stream of followers. _Are all Division heads incapable of heading anywhere alone? _ Tony thought as he walked over to Hammond. "Brad, it's good to see you."

"Cut the crap, Tony, and tell me where Nadia Santos is."

Hammond was never much for pleasantries; Tony didn't see much point in wasting them. "She's out in the field."

Hammond momentarily turned purple before regaining his equilibrium. "I called you less than half an hour ago that I was coming here to talk to Nadia ."

"Actually, you told me that you were sending a team in to begin investigating," Tony pointed out. "You never told me that you were coming here yourself."

"A division director was murdered," Hammond said in that same stubborn tone. "I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't have this investigated competently."

"What Tony is trying to tactfully suggest is that there has been a major screw-up in the chain of command, and now you're trying point all your guns at the same problem instead of focusing them on a more relevant situation."

Hammond turned around to this new attack from a man fast approaching his left side. "Who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"My name is Jack Bristow, Mr. Hammond," Sydney's father said, "and we have long passed the point where following protocols is going to be helpful to anyone. Least of all, the agents in the field."

Hammond was clearly not used to being attacked on two fronts. He tried to shift the discussion back to a more certain area. "Why is Agent Santos in the field?"

"Our agents were investigating a major Covenant figure in Burbank," Tony pointed out, "when we intercepted a call from Sherry Palmer."

The last two words managed to do something neither Tony nor Jack Bristow had managed to do, subdue Hammond. "Sherry Palmer was talking to someone the Covenant?" he said in a much quieter tone.

"Furthermore, in this phone call, she indicated to the man we were trying to intercept that she had information on the identities of Covenant spies in this country," Jack Bristow pointed out. "Hearing this, Alexander Trepkos, the man we were following arranged for a meeting in the Marina Del Rey within the next half hour."

"As you're well aware, Brad, that's all the way across town. I needed to send agents from CTU to make sure the location is secure. Nadia was the best field team leader I had in place. I thought that intercepting Trepkos and Sherry Palmer trumped whatever investigative process you were going to pursue," Tony finished smoothly.

Another smaller shock on a day full of them; Tony and Sydney's father had rendered Hammond speechless. "When is the meeting scheduled?"

"In less than fifteen minutes," Tony said.

"Very well," Hammond said reluctantly. "I believe we can forego the inquiry of Agent Santos until this operation is complete. However, I believe we must take some steps; so I'd appreciate it if you would allow Agent Simmons here to view the security footage around the time of the murders."

Realizing he'd put them off as long as he could, Tony turned to Michelle. "Michelle, would you take him to viewing room 3?"

**4:57:24/4:57:25/4:57:26**

Jack had been right about his estimation of the traffic. Driving at eighty miles per hour on a nearly empty road, and with the police otherwise occupied with disaster response, the three of them had managed to get to the Marina Del Rey well ahead of Trepkos.

"Jack, I'm here," Sydney said into her radio as she parked her vehicle a block away from the harbor, hopefully well out of sight of the Covenant agents. "You in position yet?"

"Not quite. I'm coordinating with the people at the harbor," Jack responded. "CTU field teams should be arriving any second now; I'll need you to coordinate with them."

The harbor was like any other that Sydney had been to in her years working costal sites. However, even from a short distance away, Sydney could tell there might be at least one problem.

"Jack, where are we going to put the field teams when we get them?" she asked. "Now I get why Trepkos called the meeting here; I can only count six conceivable sites for our people to take position in."

"Do we have any idea how many people Trepkos is going to bring?"

"I had a talk with Vaughn a few minutes ago," Sydney replied. "According to him, Trepkos had fourteen thugs with him, and he only left three at his office. We gotta figure they're all going to start coordinating by the time the man gets here."

"We're going to have a reduced presence," Jack countered. "Aside from you, me and Curtis, there are only going to be four other agents working with us here. The rest are going to be in fallback positions a couple of blocks away."

"Still haven't answered my question, Jack. Where are we going to put these people?"

"The only place we can be sure Trepkos won't have time to look," Jack said calmly. "Underwater."

**4:59:57/4:59:58/4:59:59/5:00:00**


	22. 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM

**Chapter 22**

**The Following Takes Place Between 5:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M.**

Sydney tried to get a lay of the land (though admittedly, the land was the least of their problems) before speaking into the phone. "Jack, I grant you that we'd have a certain advantage as far as the spacing goes," she said slowly,"but I don't have to tell you that an underwater scenario raises a lot of complications."

"Yes, but it also has the greatest advantage," Jack countered, "Sunrise isn't due for another fifty minutes, so the chances of our teams being spotted is next to non-existent. Plus it would be the last place Trepkos and his team would expect an attack to come from."

"I assume that you cleared this scenario with Tony, and that the field team has the proper transmitting, firearm, and breathing apparatus with them."

"That much wasn't a problem," Jack said. "Admittedly, this is a much lower priority for CTU then many other scenarios, but we do have the right material."

"Which leads to the biggest problem," Sydney pointed out. "The kind of maneuvering that you're going to be asking for is difficult even for veteran divers. Do you have the experience doing this that you could lead this team?"

"I can't, Sydney. Someone has to be commanding people in the ground, and I haven't been water certified for five years." Jack paused.

"But I can," said a familiar voice on the radio.

Sydney was a little surprised to hear Nadia's voice. "Nadia, they let you back out into the field?" she asked.

"There's probably going to be a shitstorm back at CTU, when Division comes to interrogate me and I'm not there," Nadia said. "Can't say that I'll miss it much."

"Not that I'm not glad that you've rejoined us, but the question is still valid: Can you do what Jack is asking?"

"Sydney, I have the same training you have, plus I was underwater certified less than a year ago. That puts me ahead of more than half the people available now."

Jack took the radio from Nadia. "Sydney, I understand your concerns, but we've just about run out of time. Trepkos and Mrs. Palmer are going to be showing up any minute; I need you to coordinate with the above ground agents on site."

Sydney saw Jack's point. "Just tell me where to go."

"Curtis will meet you at the easternmost point on the pier. "

"Copy that. I'll let you know when I'm in position."

Jack got off the radio, and turned back to Nadia, only to realize that she was already out of her clothing, ready to get into her wetsuit. She was in profile, revealing more curves than he had even suspected she had. She had a few scars—how did one get a scar THERE?—but those were so light that they didn't mar her skin to any great degree. They were only slightly paler than her light bronze skin. She was surprisingly well built, and apparently had decided that "going commando" was a literal phrase.

Despite the level of detail he noted, he had only spent less than half a second glancing her way, only a slight hesitation kept him from turning. Instead of making it obvious, he simply looked down at his cell phone, pretending that nothing of interested was going on.

Nadia laughed anyway. "Agent Bauer, I didn't know you were so shy…besides it is too late in the day for you to be showing modesty. Remember, I already saw you without your shirt at the warehouse."

Jack blinked, uncertain how to respond. Damnit, he was finding himself attracted to someone he worked with, who he had only met over twelve hours ago, and she had just lost someone three hours before. "Sure, seeing me tortured, beaten, with five dead on the ground was a turn on," he said in a flat voice, almost totally bereft of humor. He sighed and rubbed his temples. I'm sorry, I'm just…it's been a long day."

Nadia nodded. "I'm told you have lot of them."

"You could say that."

She shrugged. "Anyway,**__**considering the field we're in, privacy should be the least of your concerns," Nadia said slowly as she picked up the shirt and slacks she'd been wearing. "The truth of the matter is, I'm not sure how long I could have gone on wearing them." She paused another few seconds before turning them around until she reached a bloodstain roughly two inches in diameter. "Every time I've looked down for the past couple of hours, I've had to wonder which is Eric's and which is Chapelle's."

Jack remained still for a few moments. Then he walked behind Nadia and put his hand on her bare shoulder. "It's all right to be upset," he said softly.

"About who? The man I loved or the man I killed?" Nadia asked rhetorically. "Ninety percent of me wants this day to end. But part of me just wants to keep busy and keep going, because as long as I do, I don't have to start dealing with everything's that happened today." She managed a grim smile. "I guess I'm on my own form of autopilot."

Her smile wavered, and she closed her eyes, letting out a shaky sigh as she gathered her control. Jack could feel the tension in her body, and he felt pangs of sympathy for her, and all she had lost, knowing exactly what it was like. He wanted to sit down with her and tell her everything about what he went through the past year, exactly each and every stage he had gone through…but there was no time. Of course not, there was never enough time.

Time limiting his options, he went with his instinct. He gently turned her around and hugged her to him. She responded with furious enthusiasm. Despite her being all but naked, the embrace was perfectly chaste, and definitely solid.

They stayed that way for what felt like a long moment, when his radio buzzed.

She smiled into his chest, amused. "Your pants are vibrating."

Jack let out an involuntary laugh, and let her go, stepping back and turning away to answer it.

"This is Curtis, we're all waiting for your order."

Jack knew that they had to get into position now if this operation was to have any chance of succeeding. He turned back to Nadia, only to see that she had put her clothes on the harbor floor, and was putting the wetsuit on. Apparently, she had found some of that great inner strength that her sister also had a surplus of.

"This is Bauer. Get into position now."

**5:06:31/5:06:32/5:06:33**

Sydney's position was a small lookout pointCurtis and another agent had suited up before she had arrived, and Sydney had gotten the rest of the plan: she and Jack were to serve as the lookouts while Curtis, Nadia and two other agents hid underwater. When Trepkos, Mrs. Palmer, and whatever mercenaries they had with them moved into position, Jack and Sydney would coordinate the underwater agents so they would be in the best positions, attacking when Jack and Sydney gave the order. A small team of ground support was waiting less than a mile away.

Though Sydney thought this was probably their best option, it didn't make it a very good one. What concerned most of all was the number of hoodlums that might show up. She didn't think that Sherry Palmer would have that big a security entourage, but Vaughn had said that Trepkos might have as many as a dozen men with him, and that was assuming that those thugs were the only ones he had access to. She and Jack would have to maneuver around a rather large sizeable assembly. Of course, if the Covenant thugs were equipped thermal scanners and night vision goggles, the game would be over before it would even started. There was no reason for ordinary thugs to have that equipment, but Murphy's Law had been working overtime today.

As Curtis and the other field agent got in the water, Sydney got on the radio with Marshall. "Is the satellite link up yet?" she asked.

"It's in position now," Marshall said.

"Have you got any readings yet?"

"Wait a second." An agonizing five seconds later, he came back out. "All right, aside from you and Jack, I've got four other people on the infrared. Two of them are on the westernmost side of the pier moving in a circular pattern, and there are two others stationary roughly two hundred meters to their left. "

"Any sign of anyone else_**?" **_Sydney said as she took out her binoculars. "According to Vaughn, we're at least seven short."

"There's nothing in the ordinary structures. I'm in the process of checking the boats now, but there are a lot of them, and you know, they could be hiding below deck, and we'd never be able to find them."

Before Sydney could remark that this was true but not comforting, through her binoculars, she saw someone walking to the center of the dock. "Hang on, we may have something."

It was difficult to tell in the darkness, but Sydney could make out the profile of a tall, black woman with her hair in a ponytail.

"All units, be advised," she whispered into her radio. "Sherry Palmer is on site."

**5:11:45/5:11:46/5:11:47/5:11:48**

Though she was maintaining a stoic façade, Jack could tell that Sherry Palmer was nervous. Then again, considering that she was walking into the middle of what the LAPD would call a 'jackpot situation', she would have to be a much more experienced at treason to not be scared. And all the evidence they had found suggested that, despite working for the Covenant, Mrs. Palmer was still a novice in the field.

She had not come alone, though. A bodyguard was walking about ten feet behind her. When Jack focused his binoculars on him, he saw that the man had two shoulder holsters on his shirt. "You seeing what I'm seeing?" Jack said into his radio.

"She brought protection," Sydney acknowledged. "Trepkos is going to be pissed. Speaking of which, any sign of the man?"

"Um, I'm got someone coming from your ten o'clock," Marshall said.

Jack abruptly shifted his glasses into the new position. Sure enough, another man was approaching. It took until he walked into the light for him to get a look at him. "I have confirmation, Alexander Trepkos is approaching."

"Do you want us to move in and grab them?" Sydney asked.

"Not yet," Jack said. "I want to see if we can get any information out of them voluntarily before we start interrogating them. Is the other laser mike in position?"

"Chloe's got it working," Marshall acknowledged. "I'm sending the audio feed now."

"You brought backup," Trepkos said calmly.

"I would have been a fool not to, Alexander." Despite her body language, Sherry maintained a calm tone. "Besides, you can't honestly expect me to believe you came alone."

Trepkos gave a small nod. "Let's not waste time arguing over minor issues. You said that you had something the Covenant would find valuable."

"I would consider a list of Covenant agents in America more than valuable," Mrs. Palmer said calmly. "In fact, the word 'priceless' comes to mind."

"Let's not argue about semantics," Trepkos said, sounding a little irritated for the first time. "What do you want in exchange?"

"I want my safety guaranteed," Sherry said. "Not by you--- it's pretty clear by now your word doesn't mean much---- but by Cole. Considering that he has the most to lose by exposure."

"You really think Cole will risk his position by talking to you?"

"The Sword of Damocles is hanging over Mr. Cole's head," Sherry Palmer replied. "And I'm holding the knife. He wants to stay alive, he'd better talk to me."

Trepkos was silent. "Assuming he agrees, what do you want?"

"Twelve hours to get out of the country and into a neutral territory." Sherry said. "One which the Covenant has no presence. Once I'm there, I will have an agent of mine deliver the hard copy of the list to Cole."

"How will we know that it's the only copy?"

"You don't," Sherry said bluntly. "You're just going to have to trust me, just as I'm going to have to trust that you won't have me killed the second I finish talking to Cole."

"I'd think given our past relationship, a little trust would be in order," Trepkos put forth.

"You've probably ransacked my apartment already looking for it," Sherry argued. "There's no trust in anything connected to the Covenant."

"I think we've gotten everything we're going to get," Sydney whispered.

Jack nodded, and lifted up his radio. "Attention, all underwater units. Be ready to move in five... four ..."

**5:17:22/5:17:23/5:17:24**

"I'll take this to Cole."

"You call him now, Alex, or things will get a lot worse."

Though Sherry Palmer had no idea what was coming at that moment, Sydney emerged from her shelter on the eastern side of the dock. "Everybody put your hands where I can see them," Sydney ordered.

Trepkos face darkened. "You arranged this, didn't you?" he said to Sherry Palmer.

The President's ex-wife looked flabbergasted. "Alexander, this isn't my work," she said frantically.

"Then I'll only kill you once." He tapped his earpiece. "Bruno, Shepherd, take them out."

After that, things happened very fast. Jack gave the order for Curtis and Nadia to come out, shooting. As they did, a gunman emerged from the interior of one of the boats and another from the westernmost point on the pier. No one was clear which one fired first and, in the end, it really didn't matter who it was. The result was the same.

As the barrage of bullets began ringing out, Jack and Sydney both took whatever cover they could find so they wouldn't get caught in what would be a very large crossfire, and so that they could get their hands on the only figures of importance--- Palmer and Trepkos.

Technically, the numbers should have favored the Covenant. There were four men already on the pier, not counting Sherry Palmer's bodyguard, and seven others hidden on five boats on the dock. Against this, CTU had only five agent, but four of them were in the water.

And not only had the been in the water, they had been busy.

Jack Bauer was not the only person in the area who played chess. There was one, simple way to cut off alternate routes of attack. And while Nadia had been in the water, essentially being bored out of her mind while wearing a tank of air on her back.

So, while Sherry Palmer and Trepkos had spent their time and energy yelling at one another, Nadia and her team spent two minutes on a crash course in BUDS—basic underwater demolitions.

So, all of the hidden positions of the shooters on the boats, while good as pure shooting positions, bad basically been making their fortified positions on top of improvised limpet mines.

Nadia had originally wired them just to blow up one or two of them as a diversion—a lot of spraying water, flashes, loud noises—but once the shooters emerged, she hit the button on all of them.

The limpets had been placed in such a way to create lots of sound and fury, but also to make the boats have all the floating ability of a piano.

Nadia's team emerged after the debris settled, surrounding the gunmen on the dock. Two of Trepkos' men drew down on Jack and Sydney's position, not seeing the people in the water, only to be gunned down by Nadia's team.

Sherry's bodyguard and the other covenant shooter dove flat against the dock, so the submerged shooters couldn't get an angle on them. However, they threw themselves flat, directly above Nadia, who simply pointed her Glock straight up and emptied her gun into the two of them.

If Sherry Palmer wasn't a novice at betrayal, she was clearly one when it came to being caught in a firefight. The second the shooting had started, she made a futile attempt to escape**** and was lucky that****she hadn't gotten her head blown off. Her bodyguard was cut to pieces less than five feet away from her.

Trepkos was a lot smarter than Palmer. The second the shooting started, he had bolted down towards the section of the Marina where the cars were parked. Two bullets grazed the top of his shirt, but he never even slowed down until he reached his car. He was reaching for his keys, when he heard a gun being cocked.

"Put your hands where I can see them," Jack ordered.

Trepkos made no attempt to move. "So you're the one who's caused us all this trouble today," he said softly.

"I will shoot you," Jack said. "We have Sherry Palmer. You're expendable."

"That's not a wise way to talk about someone with my value," Trepkos said or yours.

Jack walked up to Trepkos and grabbed him by the neck. "We've got a lot to talk about," he whispered in the businessman's face, before kneeing him in the balls.

**5:25:35/5:25:36/5:25:37/5:25:38**

Sydney dialed CTU. "Tony this is Sydney," she said. "The operation was a complete success. All twelve hostiles are dead; Trepkos and Sherry Palmer are in custody."

Tony took a deep breath. "That's great. Are you and Jack going to bring them back to CTU?"

"Not yet." Sydney hesitated for a moment. "Look, I know that protocol dictates that we bring the prisoners back in for interrogation, but I think we can get a lot more from them and lose a lot less time, if we handle them here…How much have you informed the President?"

"I've held off calling the President until the most recent operation was complete. The problem is, while you and Jack were getting set up, another team from Division arrived."

"Jesus, don't those people have anything better to do than harass us?" Sydney asked.

"I actually think that's one of the qualifications that they put on their resume," Tony said with a brief glimpse of humor. "In any case, they were here when you were setting up at the Marina. I managed to keep them quiet until you were finished, but now that you are, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that Hammond has called Mike Novick."

"How much of the conversation between Trepkos and Palmer did they hear?"

"Enough to hear that Sherry Palmer's treason activities were far greater than she revealed to the President."

That was what Sydney was afraid of. "Assuming they tell the President, what do you think he's going to do?" she asked.

"Sydney, I wish I could tell you," Tony admitted. "The fact is, there's no real precedent for this. David Palmer is an ethical man, he probably doesn't want to see the woman he shared a life with thrown in jail, but he probably won't want to protect a traitor, even if she was his wife."

At that moment Curtis, who had spent the last couple of minutes getting out of his suit, walked over. "We're ready to proceed."

"What kind of intelligence do you think Mrs. Palmer can provide?" Tony asked.

"Probably a lot, given what we heard," Sydney shook her head as she began to walk over to the vehicle. "Tony, I want you to hold off any kind of deal with or without the President's approval."

"I'll try, but I can't promise. I advise you to hurry."

Sydney hung up, and put the phone in her pocket. Sherry Palmer was in the outer part of the back of her CTU vehicle. She had been chained to the car, with her sleeves rolled up. There were some cuts on her face where Sydney had slammed her into the dock while arresting her, but otherwise, she was undamaged. Syd desperately wanted to change that, but she decided to hold off, and she was sure some hard questioning would get her what she wanted to know.

"Leave us," she told Curtis.

"You sure?"

Sydney nodded, and the black field agent walked away.

**5:31:02/5:31:03/5:31:04**

"All right, Mrs. Palmer," she began, "Give me one reason I shouldn't have you taken to a detention facility right now."

Considering that she had just survived a major gunfight, Sherry Palmer had rather easily regained her equilibrium. "Look, Agent----"

"Sydney Bristow, and I really wouldn't try to ingratiate yourself with me. It is way too early in the morning to try get on my good side. Or maybe it's too late in the day. Either way, I haven't had a cup of coffee since the day before last, so don't screw with me."

"Agent Bristow, I realize how things must look," Mrs. Palmer said calmly, "but I think that if you let me, I could make things worth your time."

Sydney was almostastounded with what she was hearing. "I don't think you understand the severity of the situation you're in," she tried again. "You're collaborating with a terrorist organization that tried to nuke the city."

Sherry Palmer was a politician's wife, which was probably the reason she could maintain a good poker face. "You have no proof of this."

Sydney's answer to this was to take out a micro-cassette recorder she had taken from the van, and press _**'**_Play', playing back for Sherry exactly what they had proof of. After a minute,Sydney hit 'Stop'. "Congratulations, you've just confessed to treason," she said smugly. "Do not pass go, don't collect two hundred dollars. Go directly to federal prison---- if not death row.."

It was always difficult to tell with a dark-skinned woman, but Sherry Palmer seemed to have paled considerably. "That tape will never be admissible in court," she said weakly.

"God bless the Patriot Act," Sydney said. "We can throw you in jail without ever having to see the inside of a courtroom."

"The President would never allow that to happen," Sherry said in a much more reasonable tone.

"The President isn't married to you anymore," Sydney countered. "Given everything you've done, everything you're responsible for, you really think he would lift a finger to help you?"

"I don't know," Sherry said. "Why don't I call him and ask?"

Sydney had no intention of letting this happen. "You're not under arrest yet," she argued, "and even if that happens, you'll be a government detainee, not subject to any of the rights granted by the Constitution."

"I'm not some terrorist on the FBI's watch list," Mrs. Palmer responded. "You can't just make me disappear."

"I'd think you'd want that," Sydney countered. "Think about it, Mrs. Palmer. You know too much. The Covenant cannot afford to leave you alive. If you become subject to a criminal trial, how long do you think it would be before you were killed by a prison guard, or had one of your meals poisoned?" Sydney got right in Sherry Palmer's face. "The only chance that you have is if you do exactly what we tell you to do. You live as our prisoner, or we'll leave you to the mercy of the Covenant."

Sherry Palmer was actually sweating a little now. Finally, she looked up. "Could you give me a minute?"

Sydney was reluctant to show any sign of leniency to this woman, especially as she had no one to talk to and nowhere to go. But, considering Mrs. Palmer's position, there was little she could do to improve her position at the bargaining table.

"All right," she said, and walked a few feet away, seemingly looking at the brightening sky, but really with her eyes on the prisoner.

**5:38:08/5:38:09/5:38:10/5:38:11**

Trepkos was a bit tougher than Jack had thought he would be. Given that Jack had worked the Covenant's financier pretty hard before actually beginning the interrogation, he had hoped that the beating would have knocked some sense into the man. But as Jack had come to realize with these Covenant members, even the soft-looking businessmen had rock hard centers.

"How it's going?" Nadia had changed out of her wetsuit, and was now a few feet away.

"So far, he's not talking," Jack admitted.

Nadia lowered her voice. "How big an ass-whooping do you think it'll take?"

"I haven't hurt him much yet," Jack said. "When I start breaking bones, generally they start talking."

"Then I guess the question is, what's holding you back?"

Jack shrugged. "There's no rush. We have him._** I**_t's not like we have to beat the clock to learn what Trepkos knows."

Before Nadia could acknowledge this, his cell rang.

"Bauer," he said.

"Jack, it's Vaughn. Tony told me that you've got Trepkos in custody."

"That's right. You get anything off his hard drive?" Jack asked.

"Trepkos' men tried to wipe it, they managed to get half of it done," Vaughn replied. "I've spent the last forty minutes with Marshall restoring it, and trying to break through his encryption key."

"Getting anywhere?"

"Maybe," Vaughn admitted. "It's clear that Trepkos was the money man for a lot of Covenant based operations. Problem is, I haven't yet found anything that links him or Star-Crossed Industries to anything we didn't already know about. The man was smart enough to completely purge them before we got here."

"You're telling me those files are beyond the reach of Marshall?"

"Nothing is completely beyond the reach of Marshall, but it's probably going to take an hour before he can completely restore them." Vaughn paused. "There is something we did find that might be useful."

"What's that?"

"One of the first files Marshall restored was of wire transfers Star Crossed Industries made over the last twelve hours. Most of them are to people and businesses have Covenant records, but one of them is listed to a Sebastian Cobb in Laurel Canyon. According to our background check, Cobb is a real estate agent who's never so much as got a traffic ticket in his life, and we can't find any connection between him and the Covenant, yet for some reason Trepkos deposited eight million dollars in his checking account less than four hours ago."

"Around the time that they acquired Sloane," Jack said thoughtfully.

"Can you use this?"

"I'll get back to you. Thanks for the info." Jack hung up and put the cell back it pocket.

"Vaughn give you anything?" Nadia asked.

Jack didn't answer, choosing instead to walk over to Trepkos. "You may think that you're in a world of hurt right now," he told the businessman. "Let me tell you, you haven't even begun to feel pain. But I'm a reasonable person, so I'm going to give you one more chance." He leaned right in Trepkos' face. "Who is Sebastian Cobb?"

There was a brief flicker in the man's eyes, but not enough to be definitive. It was time to start being aggressive.

Jack grabbed Trepkos' nose and twisted it a full inch to the left. The financier gave a nasal groan of pain. "Who is Sebastian Cobb and what does he have to do with Arvin Sloane?!" he shouted in Trepkos' face, squeezing his fingers closer together.

Finally Trepkos gave in. "It's a bought identity!" he yelled.

"For who?" Jack bore down.

"It's Sloane's!"

That refocused Nadia's attention in a big way. "What do you know about my father?" she demanded. When Trepkos hesitated, "I would speak up if I were you. What Jack does to noses, I do to testicles."

"I'll talk, I'll talk, just let go of my fucking nose!"

Reluctantly Jack did so. A thin stream of blood began to emerge from each of Trepkos' nostrils. Wisely, he paid them no mind.

"The Covenant knew that we had to get Sloane out of the country," Trepkos spoke hurriedly. "Part of my job is to create identities for undesirables. Sebastian Cobb is one that we created for Sloane, along with enough money to get him into a neutral country, until things have gotten quiet enough for us to make use of him again."

"Where is my father?" Nadia pressed.

Trepkos was breathing hard. "The Covenant owns a private air field. Your father was flown out on it over two hours ago!"

"What was his destination?" Jack yelled.

"I don't know!" When Jack bore down, he added frantically "I never spoke to him! Once he got up, he could've been taken anywhere!!"

"Where's the field?"

"Topanga Canyon," Trepkos said. "Near the beach."

**5:45:36/5:45:37/5:45:38**

Sydney walked back over to Mrs. Palmer. "I think I've been more than reasonable," she said shortly, "but I am reaching the limits of my patience."

"What is the offer?" Sherry asked bluntly.

"Your life, such as it is," Sydney responded. "And before you ask for anything more, let me remind you that we can always just say you went down with one of the boats, and unfortunately drowned."

"What if I were to give you the list I was willing to trade Trepkos?" Sherry asked. "The one with all my government contacts."

"We already have Raeburn and Stanton," Sydney said. "Unless the Covenant members have a couple of Cabinet posts under their employ, anything else you would be small potatoes. And I don't believe your reach is nearly that great."

"You sure of that, Agent Bristow?"

"Don't try to bullshit a bullshitter," Sydney replied confidently. "Your husband would never have let anyone who you'd rubbed shoulders with anywhere near the executive branch."

At that moment, Sydney's cell rang. Trying not to show her annoyance, she picked up. "Yeah?"

"It's me, Syd," Marshall said. "I just finished tracking the last ten numbers on Sherry Palmer's cell."

"Unless the last person she called was Cole, you've picked a real lousy time to interrupt me."

Marshall seemed a little put off by Sydney's annoyed tone. "Well, um, no she didn't call him, but I do have another call that she made four hours ago that's nearly as good."

"Who?"

"It's a number in Langley." He paused. "It's to Sloane."

Sydney tried to maintain a blank face. "The call was made after he escaped from our custody?" she asked.

"Almost to the minute."

"How long was the conversation?"

"Less than thirty seconds. Beyond that I don't know that much about it."

"You get anywhere on triangulating Sloane's location from the number?" Sydney asked.

"I'm still trying to get somewhere with the cell company. But it's going to take a while before I get a recording."

"Maybe it's enough that she made it," Sydney mused.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll get back to you," she said, before abruptly hanging up, and turning back to Mrs. Palmer.

"You're going to prison, Mrs. Palmer," she told the woman. "However, if you'd like a chance to maybe get out one day and play with your grandchildren, I might be able to arrange it."

"And what would I have to give for this generous offer?" Sherry Palmer asked.

"The details of your last conversation with Arvin Sloane." When Sherry looked as if she was going to object, she added: "I've just checked your phone records, and I've got verification from independent sources that you know him. So quit playing games and tell me why you called Sloane."

Sherry Palmer hesitated a moment longer. "Sloane helped recruit me for the Covenant, but I'm guessing you already know that. I'd called him to see if he could get me out of the country, but like everyone else in the Covenant, he had no use for me when I'd finished playing my part. Then he made a piddling offer, said that if I had some kind of insurance with Mackennas Cole, he could arrange for my getting out of the country."

"And that insurance was the list of Covenant agents that you helped recruit," Sydney realized.

"You people really are thorough," Sherry Palmer said with only the slightest sign of indignation. "I had two copies of the disk made. One of them I kept in my possession, the other I put in a secure location. A couple of hours ago I told Sloane where he could find the other copy. My guess is that's going to be on his itinerary."

"Where's the second disk?" Sydney demanded.

"What do I get in return?"

"Fifteen to life, at a detention facility to be determined." Before Sherry could say anything else, she added: "This is a one-time offer. You reject it, I'll have CTU transport you to Guantanamo, and their interrogation won't be nearly as nice."

Sydney stared Sherry Palmer in the face for several seconds. Finally, she dropped her eyes. "Minimum security, and I want to see the agreement before I tell you anything."

Sydney took her cell back out again. "I'll have them start drafting it now."

If the President was going to intervene, this would probably be when he'd show up.

**5:54:17/5:54:18/5:54:19/5:54:20**

"Jack," Sydney said in surprise. "I thought you were interrogating Trepkos."

"Well, with your sister's help, I managed to get it done in half the time," Jack told Sydney. "All the effort it took to bring him down, all we have to do was break one major bone and he started spilling."

"Did he give you anything on Cole?"

Jack nodded. "He says, given the failure of today's attack, Cole's position with the Covenant's understandably shaky. He's trying to strengthen his position by assembling whatever remains of the American muscle of the organization."

Sydney frowned. "So Nina Myers was broken out of custody because----"

"She was recruited by the Covenant four years ago. Cole knows she has much more value to them then she does to us."

Jack fell silent for a moment. Figuring she could map his train of thought, Sydney changed the subject. "Where are we on locating Cole?"

"Trepkos says he thinks there are a handful of Covenant owned locations where Cole and whatever army he's managed to assemble. I wanted to check in, see if you'd head one of the teams."

Sydney hesitated. "Jack, I may have a lead on where Sloane is."

Jack looked over at Sherry Palmer. "You're telling me that she knows where Sloane has gone?"

"He's probably out of the country by now," Sydney admitted, "but Sherry Palmer admitted that she talked with Sloane less than an hour after he escaped CTU custody. She says that's there's going to be at least one stop he's going to be, maybe we can intercept his aircraft en route."

"That's a hundred to one shot at best," Jack pointed out.

"I know that, Jack," Sydney said crossly "but it may be the last chance to locate him before he disappears into the ether."

"I might actually be able to help," Jack said. "Trepkos also told me that around the same time Sloane was rescued, the Covenant established a bought identity under the name Sebastian Cobb. Now, my guess is once he's gotten away safely, he'll junk that identity, too, but in the meantime, we might be able to use it to track him."

Sydney considered this. "He tell you how Sloane was getting out of the country?"

Jack nodded. "He said the Covenant maintains a private air field in Topanga Canyon. That was most likely his destination." He glanced at Sherry Palmer. "Is that enough for you to renege on whatever deal you're making with her?"

Sydney considered this, then shook her head. "I still need to know where she thinks Sloane will be going."

At that moment, Sydney's phone rang. "This is Sydney."

"This is the President. Less than five minutes ago, the Attorney General told me that you were preparing to prosecute Sherry for treason."

Sydney had been hoping to avoid this conversation. "Yes, sir, that's correct."

"The evidence is that overwhelming?"

"We have tape of her confessing talking with a known Covenant operative, in which she admits to multiple acts of treason. The evidence is irrefutable, Mr. President."

There was a hesitation on the other end. "The deal that you negotiated was fairly generous given the severity of her crimes."

This wasn't what she had expected to hear. "We believe that she has information that may be useful in recapturing Sloane," Sydney told the President.

"I see," The President paused, and his voice sounded infinitely sadder. "I just wanted to inform you that I approve this deal with no objections, and that you may handle Sherry in any way you say fit."

Sydney wasn't sure what impulse made her say what came next. "Is there any message you want me to pass on to her?"

"No," The President said with finality. "I have nothing more to say to Sherry. Ever."

**5:59:57/5:59:58/5:59:59/6:00:00**


	23. 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM

**Chapter 23**

**The Following Takes Place Between 6:00 A.M. and 7:00 A.M.**

Sydney was no expert at reading the President's mood, but she was pretty sure that David Palmer had just washed his hands of his ex-wife. She was almost willing to lay money that if she reneged Sherry's previous offer, the President would raise no objections---- Sydney knew better than anyone here how multiple counts of treason could destroy any compassion the bonds of marriage had once held. But, compared to some of the deals other traitors had cut today, she figured she could live with this one.

"All right, Mrs. Palmer," she said as she walked the rest of the way over to her "your deal has been drafted and has been approved by the Attorney General."

"Has the President seen it?" Sherry demanded.

"Yes," Sydney said slowly "and he's signed off on it."

Mrs. Palmer clearly didn't buy this. "That's all the President has to say?"

Sydney decided that she was through dancing with this woman. "The President has made it clear that he wants nothing more to do with you," she said bluntly. "So I would quit hoping for whatever last minute reprieve you thought he was going to deliver, and start working with me, because this is where the buck stops for you."

For a moment, she thought that that Mrs. Palmer was going to argue some more. Then Sherry blinked a couple of times, and looked at her. "May I see the deal?"

Sydney took the computer printout that she had received from CTU less than five minutes ago, and put it in front of her face.

"If this is going to be my final sentence, I'd like to at least hold it in my hands."

Sydney wasn't comfortable with either the joke or the idea of uncuffing her, so she settled for a compromise, and freed one of her hands. "That's all the freedom you get until you give me something worth while," she ordered Mrs. Palmer.

Sherry clearly didn't like this, but she must have realized that she had pushed her captor about as hard as she could. She studied the document for a few seconds, and handed it back to Sydney.

"Where's the second hard copy of the list of the Covenant agents you helped recruit?' Sydney demanded

Sherry looked at her. "About a week ago, feeling that I needed to provide myself with added security, I flew to Lichtenstein, a country where the Covenant has minimal involvement," she began. "The list is hidden in a safety deposit box in the banking section of Vaduz."

"And Sloane knows that the list is there?" Sydney asked.

"He knew that I made the trip there," Sherry Palmer responded. "He didn't know why I went there until I called him and emphasized that it was Covenant business."

"Does Mackennas Cole know about it?"

"If he did, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation, Agent Bristow."

Sydney decided to let that go. "How would Sloane be getting to Vaduz?" she asked instead.

"The Covenant maintains a couple of airfields in California." Sherry Palmer said. "I believe the closest is in Topanga Canyon."

That was all Sydney needed to hear. Sydney walked back over to Curtis, who had brought the pardon over. "Put her in the car," she ordered. "I want to be ready to go in two minutes."

Before Curtis had finished acknowledging her, she had her cell out again.

**6:04:32/6:04:33/6:04:34**

"Almeida," the man on the other end said

"It's Sydney. I've received independent confirmation from Sherry Palmer that Sloane used an airfield in Topanga Canyon to leave the country sometime in the last three hours. "

"Do you have any lead on his destination?"

"Not his final stop," Sydney admitted "but confidence is high that his eventual destination will be the banking section of Vaduz, Lichtenstein. That's where Mrs. Palmer has the second copy of the hard disk with her Covenant contacts."

"Where's the first copy?" Tony demanded.

Sydney stopped short. "Um, I'm not certain yet, but she did make it pretty clear that it's in Mrs. Palmer's possession," she said thoughtfully "Since we found nothing after searching her, it's most likely in the woman's car."

"Did you receive any leads in finding Cole?" Tony asked.

Sydney thought this over. "I think it's pretty clear that Sherry has no idea where to find him," she finally said "and if Cole had any idea where she was, he'd have sent some agents to have her killed by now."

"All right. Once you locate the list, I want you to get it and Sherry Palmer into CTU custody," Tony ordered. "Then I want you and Curtis to rejoin Jack running down the locations Trepkos has given us for the Covenant's American cell."

For a moment, Sydney wondered if she'd missed something. "You don't want me to follow up this lead on Sloane?" she asked.

There was a pause on the other end. "Sydney, this isn't a lead. At best, it's modified guesswork." Tony pointed out. "All you've provided is a potential starting point for Sloane's exodus out of the country, and a possible destination on his travel route. For all we know, Sloane's used any of the dozens of independent sources he would have access to, and gotten out of the country this way. And as for Sherry Palmer's list, there's no reason he can't have sent another agent to get it without him ever having to personally return to Lichtenstein."

Sydney knew that all of this was true, but she was having a hard time letting it go. "If Sloane chartered a plane at this airfield, the FAA might have access to his flight plan," she pushed on weakly.

"Yeah, I know, I'm going to_** h**_ave a conversation with them." Tony hesitated again. "Sydney, I realize how important it is for you to recapture Sloane, but I'm telling you the decision is no longer in your hands. As of now, Arvin Sloane has been moved to a lower protocol by both the Agency and the President," Tony said gently. "Our sole priority is taking down Cole and the rest of the American branch of the Covenant."

Considering everything that has happened in the last couple of hours, this shouldn't have come as a huge surprise to Sydney, but it still hurt. "This comes from Division?" she asked.

"Yes, but I agree with them. Cole is a much greater danger, and we are far more likely to locate him than we are Sloane." Tony's voice dropped a level. "Syd, I know what the man's done to you, but he's a problem for another day. Right now I need you to report to Jack, and get on this. Understand?"

Sydney had thought that she'd be angrier to hear the man that she loathed had been regulated as 'less of a threat'. But right now, all she felt was exhausted. Tired of hunting, and tired of arguing. If this was a normal day at CTU, she wondered how Jack dealt with it full time So instead of launching on another diatribe, she told Tony: "Copy that. I'll report to Jack," and hung up.

Curtis walked over to her. "Where are we going?"

"You're taking her back to CTU custody," Sydney said. "I'm going to search Mrs. Palmer's vehicle, then I'm going to have a talk with Jack and Nadia."

Perhaps understandably, Curtis seemed a little confused. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Honestly," Sydney said, "I don't know any more."

**6:11:19/6:11:20/6:11:21/6:11:22**

Nadia walked back over to Jack. "Marshall's ready," she told him.

"Put it on speaker," he told her.

Nadia did so, and put the phone on the roof of their car. "Marshall, you're on with me and Jack," she said into the phone.

"All right, I've just finished going through the addresses that you got from Trepkos," Marshall said. "I gotta tell you, when I started going through them, I was sort of wondering, how much effort it took to get them out of him."

Jack and Nadia looked at each other. "What do you mean by that?" Jack asked.

'Okay, well, um, you gave me a list of five potential buildings that might be holding Mackennas Cole and the remnants of whatever's left of the American cell of the Covenant, and I'm not a hundred percent sure that any of them could be possible sites."

"Run them down for us," Nadia said.

"All right, short version, the ones in Long Beach and Inglewood are right next to public attractions so unless they were using some kind of invisible weaponry, there's no way the Covenant could hold anything bigger than a breadbox in there without being spotted."

"The Covenant has the ability to hide in plain sight," Nadia pointed out.

"The locations are near the Forum and Queen Mary, I don't even they would risk being spotted near something that public for locations that are that small," Marshall argued.

"Let's put a hold on them for now," Jack said. "What are your objections to the other three sites?"

"It's a set of row houses in Pasadena, but it's practically on top of the Pasadena police station. I talked with the cops there, they said it was deserted as recently as a hour ago."

"And the other two?" Nadia asked

"There's a fraternity house just off the USC campus. Considering that classes are still being taught that would be a huge risk for Cole now." Marshall said. "The last one is the Bellwether Hotel on La Cinega Boulevard. Until a few minutes ago, I would have put my money that was where Cole was hiding out."

"What changed your mind?" Nadia asked.

"I called ahead and checked the registry; according to it, Sherry Palmer was registered as recently as yesterday."

"So?" Jack pressed.

"I mean, this is just me, but Mrs. Palmer wouldn't be stupid enough to hide out on the Covenant doorstep."

"I wouldn't rule that out," Nadia said. "We don't know how much the woman knew about the Covenant's buildings. Maybe she had no idea what she was doing."

Jack looked at Nadia. "Why reinvent the wheel?" he asked "Sherry Palmer's here, she's made whatever deal she can, let's ask her."

"There might be another way," Sydney suddenly appeared in front of Jack and Nadia.

"You got something?" asked Nadia

'Maybe," Sydney was carrying a disk and a laptop. "I just went through Mrs. Palmer's car, and dug up the disk on which she kept her complete list of Covenant contacts. I say we go through it, and look for something that connects with whatever information we got from Trepkos."

"How long do you think that will take?" Nadia countered.

"Probably not too long," Sydney said. "However, if it makes you feel any better, you can go whale on her for awhile."

Nadia hesitated before walking over to her. "You think you got everything you can out of her?"

Sydney shook her head. "She signed the deal. She doesn't gain anything by jerking us around any longer."

Nadia looked at Jack. "You have a prior relationship with her, don't you?"

"I saved her husband's life the day before he left her," Jack said. "But maybe she'll feel more comfortable talking to someone she thinks would be an easier touch. She's in the car?"

Sydney nodded as she started typing the keys. "I've got one of the other agents watching her."

"I'll see what I can find out."

As Jack walked away, Sydney began to download the disk.

**6:18:07/6:18:08/6:18:09**

Sherry Palmer seemed lost in her own world when Jack walked over to the vehicle she had been placed in. She didn't even stir that much when she saw a familiar face.

"Have you come to gloat, Agent Bauer?" she asked in a defeated tone that sounded nothing like the woman he had known, however briefly.

"You're not worth reveling over, Mrs. Palmer," Jack responded. "Besides, I have far more pressing issues to deal with. Questions that only you can answer."

"I've already told you everything I know about Sloane," Mrs. Palmer told Jack. "You've got my list of Covenant contacts, and you already have me on the hook for treason. What more could I possibly do for you?"

"How about you tell me why you checked into the Bellwether Hotel yesterday?"

This inquiry managed to raise Sherry out of her haze--- momentarily, at least. "Why on earth would you care where I choose to stay?" she asked.

"Because you're Sherry Palmer," Jack said simply "From what little I know about you, you don't do anything without a reason."

There was a pregnant pause before Sherry answered. "I went to the Bellwether because I had a meeting with Arvin Sloane there two days ago."

"Had you met with him there before?' Jack asked.

"It was the first time I'd met with him since he recruited me to the Covenant," Mrs. Palmer continued. "For the last six months, my only communication with the Covenant hierarchy have been electronic. But Sloane insisted that we have a face-to-face before today."

"Did you know how to contact him before then?"

"Of course."

"Do you have any idea why Sloane would insist on meeting there?"

"I have no idea, Agent Bauer," Sherry said. "The Bellwether is not the kind of establishment I would voluntarily frequent. It barely qualifies as a rattrap hotel. But Sloane told me I was to check in there."

"And you didn't ask any questions?" Jack asked, with some incredulity.

"I always ask questions, Mr. Bauer, but you know as well as I do that Sloane's always been sloppy with his answers." Sherry paused again. "Now I hope this tells what you need to know, because I have nothing more to gain by talking to you. So unless you're willing to give me something beyond the beautiful bracelets I'm wearing, we're done."

"I just beat the hell out of your friend Trepkos," Jack said. "I could just as easily do the same with you."

"But you won't, " Sherry said, "because I'm David's wife. And even though you may be willing to hurt civilians and women--- hell, maybe you even like to kick puppies--- the thought of doing damage to the President's wife is going to be something you can't stomach." She gave a small smile. "We're done, Jack."

Jack briefly considered backhanding her across the face, just to prove she was wrong. However, the truth of the matter, was she might have given them just what they were looking for. So he turned to her guard, and said: "Get ready to take her to holding," and walked back over to Sydney and Nadia.

"You get anything more out of Mrs. Palmer?" Nadia asked Jack.

Jack nodded. "The Bellwether definitely means something to the Covenant. Sloane had his first face to face with her in six months the day before yesterday. According to Mrs. Palmer, Sloane insisted on meeting with her there." He looked down at Sydney. "You find anything in that hard drive that we can use?"

"The good news is, she didn't have enough computer savvy to encrypt this disk," Sydney said as she finished scrolling down the computer. "Took me less than two minutes to get past the security measures on this desk."

"This disk was going to serve as her safety net," Nadia pointed out. "Safety net doesn't do you much good if no one else can read it."

"Any names on this disk that you recognize?" Jack asked.

"A few," Sydney said, "but as someone once said, quantity often counts more than quality. Apparently, Sherry Palmer was a better recruiter than she would have been a first lady. Two dozen names so far, along with the time and place of their first meetings."

" I guess she believed in being prepared," Nadia said

"Funny," Sydney countered. "Sherry Palmer never struck me much as the girl scout type."

Jack actually managed a tired smile after hearing this. It froze on his face as he saw something on the screen. "Scroll back one name," he asked.

"What'd you see?" Sydney asked as she did so.

"That last address, the one in Culver City," Jack said. "It's less than five miles away from La Cinega Boulevard."

"And the Bellwether Hotel," Nadia said, catching on.

Sydney considered this, then spoke into the phone. "Marshall, can you make a geographic listing of…."

"Five steps of you," Marshall's voice said. "The second you starting downloading the list to CTU, I started locating all the names and places on it."

"How many of the meeting points are within ten miles of La Cinega Boulevard?" Jack asked.

"Well, only eleven names on the list were recruited in LA," Marshall pointed out. "Of those eleven, five were recruited at establishments within driving distance of the Bellwether. But, um, there's a problem with this. It's is the financial district of Los Angeles, so it would be a bad place to be hiding."

"Maybe," Sydney said. "but Sherry Palmer arranged these meetings, and five times she chose the same area. That does suggest there was some motivation other than convenience."

Nadia looked at Jack. "How hard did you push the woman?' she asked.

"Not nearly hard enough," Jack said. "I think it's time we quit-----"

Suddenly two shots rang out. All three agents turned to see the agent that had been guarding Sherry, lying in a pool of blood.

Sydney made it over to the car first. The agent who had been guarding Mrs. Palmer's had almost no pulse. Of far more pressing concern was the fact that the cuffs that had once held Sherry Palmer were now empty and there was no sign of the traitorous woman.

Jack yelled into his radio. "I need a medic over to the blue Taurus, and I need all units to set up a perimeter around the dock! Sherry Palmer has escaped!"

**6:28:59/6:29:00/6:29:01/6:29:02**

Wisely, Nadia had not hung up on Marshall while running into the other CTU vehicle, and seconds after she and Jack were in the car, she ordered him to re-task the satellite he had set up previously to monitor the meeting between Trepkos and Palmer. Sydney and Curtis agreed to start going up the left side of the marina searching for Sherry; Jack and Nadia would do the same thing to the right side of it.

"I thought that Sydney had made sure that woman was double-cuffed," she asked as they began their search

"Mrs. Palmer was unusually acquiescent during her imprisonment," Jack said. "My guess is she managed to persuade her guard that she was no threat to anyone, and he let her loose."

"Despite everything that she had been accused of doing?" Nadia asked incredulously.

"You don't rise as high as Sherry Palmer did without learning to be very persuasive," Jack said. "Even I didn't think she would try something this excessive."

Just then, Marshall came back on the line. "Okay, I've re-tasked the satellite. According to the last position, Sherry Palmer was running east northeast!"

This struck Nadia as odd. "You mean she hasn't heading towards any of the other vehicles?"

"Sherry Palmer's a novice at this kind of thing," Jack said. "She never grew up any place where hotwiring a car was a useful skill. Besides, we've got roadblocks up."

"She doesn't need to drive," Nadia pointed out. "There are three airports within running distance of the marina!"

"Um, guys," Marshall said over the cell phone. "I don't know how this happened, but according to the satellites, Mrs. Palmer is no longer _on _the marina."

By now, Nadia and Jack had reached her last location which was about ten feet away from the eastern end of the marina.. "I highly doubt that this woman has developed gills," Nadia said as she looked around.

"Wait a minute," Jack said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Isn't there a platform running underneath the marina?"

Nadia nodded. "I saw when I went in the water," copying his tone.

Suddenly she got what Jack was aiming at. "The woman must have doubled back on us," she said in a much louder tone. "I'll try and get Marshall to reconfigure the satellite."

Jack walked away until he was pretty sure that he was out of range. "Attention, I need a boat in to coordinates on the eastern end of the marina." Tony had called in the Coast Guard an hour and a half earlier for the seizure of Trepkos and Mrs. Palmer.

"Copy that. What kind of force do you want us to use?"

Jack didn't have to think about it for more than an instant. "Whatever it takes to stop her from getting away."

"You sure about that?" Curtis said over the radio.

"I think we've gotten all the information we're going to get out of her, and right now, she's more of a risk alive," Jack pointed out. "Terminal force is allowed. She can't get away."

**6:33:14/6:33:15/6:33:16**

When Sydney heard Jack authorize the kill order for Sherry Palmer, she couldn't agree—she was a treasonous bitch, but she had done nothing that authorized this level of response. Even in shooting her guard while obtaining her freedom, she only shot him in the leg and the arm. (Though she didn't know it, Jack's theory as to how she had persuaded the agent to uncuff her was completely accurate.) There was a fair amount of blood, but they were little more serious than flesh wounds. In Sydney's mind, this agent's stupidity was far more serious than Sherry's pathetic escape attempt.

"Jack," she said over the radio, "are you sure about that last command?"

"Sydney, this is a lousy time to be getting squeamish," Jack said back.

"Right now, you think that Sherry Palmer is hiding," Sydney pointed out. "At most, she has the guard's weapon, which won't even have a full clip. We have the marina completely surrounded, so unless she's an excellent swimmer, there's no escape. Allowing for a miracle, and she gets outside the marina, there is no way that she gets by all of the roadblocks, guard-posts, and agents we have posted within a five-mile radius. You're using a hand grenade to kill an ant."

There was a moment of silence as Jack considered this. "A few hours ago, I underestimated Ryan Chapelle, and Weiss died because of it," he said.

"Even though I don't know the woman, I'm dead sure that she's not a Derevko, or even a Chapelle." Sydney paused. "Come on, Jack, we've had enough people die on us today. Just tell the teams to order her to surrender."

"In case you haven't noticed, Sydney, I said lethal force was allowed, not to execute her. But I'm not going to lose one more person today, just because I thought that THIS person with a gun wasn't a threat. More people get killed by amateurs each year than by professionals, and I won't let that happen tonight. "

At that moment, Curtis' voice came over the radio. "Jack, I'm on the far left of the underside of the platform."

"Do you see Mrs. Palmer?" Sydney asked.

"Yeah, I'm about thirty feet away from here."

"Is she armed?" Jack asked.

"She has a gun," Curtis paused "but it's at her side."

Jack hesitated, then began to speak into the radio. "Mrs. Palmer, this is Jack Bauer. I want you to walk over to Agent Manning, put the gun down, and surrender."

Under the marina, Sherry Palmer remained statuesque. "And after that what happens?" she said shakily. 'I go to prison for the rest of my life? I can't do that, Agent Bauer."

"Mrs. Palmer, I know how things must seem to you," Jack said calmly. "I know that you think there's nothing left."

"It's not what I think, it's the God's honest truth." There was a defeated sound in Sherry's voice that her husband would never have recognized. "My husband has disowned me, I've lost any power I might have once had, and I've betrayed my country. What could I possibly have left?"

At this point, everyone could hear the desperation in Sherry's voice. "Mrs. Palmer, don't do anything drastic," Sydney said over the radio.

"That's a poor choice of words considering my actions," Sherry said. "At this point, drastic is all I have left."

What happened next happened fast. "Tell my husband that I'm sorry," Mrs. Palmer said.

She raised the gun. At Curtis.

And Curtis nearly let her squeeze the trigger before he was forced to shoot and kill Sherry Palmer.

Her body fell into the water below.

**6:39:40/6:39:41/6:39:42/6:39:43**

The three of them watched as the Coast Guard lifted Sherry Palmer's corpse out of the Pacific.

Sydney was the first one to speak. "I should never have pushed her that hard," she said quietly. "Maybe if she hadn't thought there was nothing left for her----"

Jack turned a harsh gaze on her. "You just told her the truth. There was nothing left for her but years in a cage."

Nadia looked at both of them. "You're not telling me that either of you are going to lose sleep over this?" she asked. "Let's not forget that the woman was a traitor to this country. You made the call that terminal force be used!"

"I know," Jack said "but like it or not, she was the President's wife. There are going to be all kinds of repercussions. Even worse ones than the loss of your father." He sighed. "I'll call the President."

"I'm sure Tony or my father would----"

"No," Jack said firmly. "I'm sure the President would rather hear it from me." He tookout his phone. "If you don't mind, I'd like to make this private."

"Of course," Nadia said. "We'll try and get a confirmation of Cole's location out of Trepkos."

As the two women walked away, Sydney spoke up. "Would you mind working on Trepkos? You seemed to be having more luck than I have."

" Sure. What are you going to do?" Nadia asked.

"I'll get the teams prepped."

"That shouldn't take that long. I can wait."

"No, we need to get a rush on this" Sydney said hastily. "Besides, somebody needs to run tech with CTU, and I've got a feeling that Jack's conversation will be a long one."

Nadia looked at her sister suspiciously. "Is there a problem, Syd?"

"Of course not." Before she could ask anymore questions, Sydney walked away fast.

**6:42:15/6:42:16/6:42:17**

Nadia was absolutely right about there being a problem, and it was named Sloane. The American intelligence network and the President might be willing to downgrade his threat. She couldn't, anymore than she could leave chasing him to someone else.

The problem was that finding him wasn't needle in a haystack territory. It was needle in a continent. And Arvin Sloane had already demonstrated how good he was at hiding without anybody's help. With that of the Covenant, they might never hear from him again.

The key was to find the plane he was on. Sloane couldn't make a move at thirty thousand feet, unless he was warned mid-flight. Sydney thought the chances of that remote, even given the Covenant's reach. She also knew that CTU would never authorize extra manpower to find Sloane, not with Cole and Sherry Palmer still at large. So she turned to the only other person that could help her right now.

"I just want to make sure you understand, " Dixon told her. "There's going to be a bill for investing agency resources on this."

"Since when did you get so focused on protocol?" Sydney asked with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Well, with Chapelle dead, and Brad Hammond monitoring things in CTU, they've pretty much left me minding the store." Dixon said. "But I'm guessing that you figured that out on your own."

"Are you suggesting that I would capitalize on a window in the CTU power structure to pursue a hidden agenda?" Sydney asked with mock incredulity. "Like that's never been done before. Hell, Sloane did it when he got out of SD-6 before we took down the Alliance."

"That's not the strongest argument you could have used, Syd." There was an awkward pause before he spoke again. "But you're right, this may be our last chance to stop Sloane. What information have you got?"

"Trepkos told Jack that he had transferred a sizable amount of money into the account of Sebastian Cobb, a manufactured identity for Sloane," Sydney told Dixon. "He also said that Sloane was flown out of the country on an airfield in Topanga Canyon a little more than three hours ago. I need you to check the passenger manifest for those flight, and find out on which one of them Cobb blew town on. Then we're going to call the FAA and get its flight plan."

"You sure that you wouldn't want Marshall involved in this?" Dixon asked. "He could probably get this done a hell of a lot faster than I can."

"I want to keep the circle of involvement as small as possible for as long as we can," Sydney said. "I don't mind getting the rest of my career torpedoed, I don't think you do either, but I don't want Marshall to do the same, and you know he would if we asked."

"All right." Now Dixon paused. "All right, assuming we can find the coordinates of the plane Sloane's on, how exactly are we going to stop him?"

Sydney had thought about this, too. "America has stealth bombers located over the Sea of Japan and on other islands in the Pacific," she said. " No matter where Sloane's flying, he's eventually going to cross into that airspace. "

"I've been elevated, but not that high," Dixon reminded her.

"I'm well aware of that, Dixon," Sydney said. "Which is why, when the time comes, you're going to need to call the President. After that… "She trailed off. "We're going to have to persuade him to do what is necessary."

**6:50:29/6:50:30/6:50:31/6:50:32**

The conversation with the President had been very painful for both the participants, and Jack walked over to Nadia with a desperate desire to finish this.

"Where are we with the location on Cole?" Jack asked.

"I pushed Trepkos as hard I could," Nadia responded. "The most he was willing to say was that Cole used the Bellwether for a lot of his security meetings."

"That's not enough."

"I know, but maybe we don't need Trepkos any more," Nadia said. "I just spoke with Chloe; she told me that CTU has reported in on satellite checks of all five locations. The Bellwether Hotel is the only that's had significant movement around the perimeter over the last two hours. She pushed the probability of that being Cole's location to ninety percent."

"That's not exactly ironclad" Jack pointed out. "Have we gotten a read on any of the phone numbers we got off Trepkos' cell?"

"Maybe," Nadia said. "We might even have a room number."

"Still not a smoking gun."

"Jack, why are you fighting this?' Nadia asked finally.

"Because the Covenant's been giving us a monumental mind-fuck since this whole thing began," Jack argued. "It could be that this is Mackennas Cole's final fuck you--- he leads CTU to his supposed hideout, then he blows the place up the moment we bust the door down."

"Jack, I was the Covenant's guinea pig long before today," Nadia said, "and I'll admit that their methods today have been positively serpentine. But the fact is, we have no other leads on Cole. Once he leaves down, we'll probably never hear from him again, unless he's blowing up something. We've already lost my father because of the Covenant's moves, we can't lose Cole also." She paused. "And that's not the only person we'll lose out on."

It was a fairly dirty tactic that Nadia was using, but the truth was that Jack would have gone along regardless. He was going to finish with Nina one way or the other. "We need to make this ironclad or Cole will disappear."

"Well then, maybe we should ask Sydney how to make the plan airtight."

**6:54:38/6:54:39/6:54:40**

Jack and Nadia walked over to their car, where they saw Sydney was finishing packing up. "We're ready to hit the Bellwether," Jack told her.

"We're sure that Cole is there," Sydney said.

"From what I understand, you know Cole better than either of us" Jack asked.

"He once held some of my friends hostage, and he was part of the group that helped brainwash me and turned me into a spy," Jack looked a little surprised at that that. **_"_**Long story."

"Do you have any short ones?"

"Point is, I don't know Mackennas Cole much better than either of you. But La's been locked down for hours, and we know Cole was in the city, so he should still be here—and the Covenant will try to eliminate him the second he leaves. His best bet is still to get the list that Sherry Palmer made."

"So how do you think we should play this?" Nadia asked.

"We use what we have to flush him out," Jack said. "Have Trepkos call Cole, tell him that he managed to obtain the list from Sherry Palmer, and that the reason he's been dark for the last few hours is because Palmer was difficult to run to ground."

Sydney thought for a second. "It's a risky play, but I think is the best shot we've got," she said. "Can you make Trepkos talk without shoving another deal down our throats?"

"I have so far," Jack said simply. "I'll start working on him."

"Go on without me," Sydney said. "I have to make one last call."

"This is kind of important, Syd," Nadia said.

Jack, who knew exactly what obsessive revenge was like, simply asked.****"How long will you need?"

"Give me five minutes, "Sydney said before ducking into the vehicle she had driven up in two hours ago.

Dixon knew that what he was about to do was in one of those ethically grey area intelligence agencies deal with. However, he had rarely in his career felt that a decision had felt so necessary.

"You got the information that we need?" Sydney asked.

"Looking at it now," he said.

"All right. Let's make the call." He punched in the number.

"This is Mike Novick,"

"Mike, this is Marcus Dixon from Division. I'm on a conference call with Sydney Bristow. I can't imagine how hectic things are over there, but I need to talk with the President right away."

"May I ask what this is about?"

"Tell him that it involves Arvin Sloane," Dixon said.

There was a pause on the other end. "Mr. Dixon, this is the President. You're also on the line with Mike Novick."

"First of all, I would like to express my condolences about the loss of your ex-wife. My wife was murdered four years ago, so I know what you're going through."

There was another pause. "Thank you, Mr. Dixon," The President swallowed. "You said that this was about Arvin Sloane."

"Mr. President, we have an idea of where Sloane is. He flew out of the country three hours ago from Topanga Canyon. According to the FAA, based on the flight plan and prevailing winds, Sloane is going to be entering New Zealand airspace some time in the next thirty minutes."Dixon paused. "The problem is that the plane has not answered any of our radio contacts. We have its approximate position because he's flying over an island now. Once his plane gets over the Pacific, we may completely lose track of him."

Now Mike Novick spoke. "Mr. Dixon, what are you suggesting?"

"Sir," Dixon said. "I am urging you in the strongest possible words, to order the plane to be shot down."

**6:59:57/6:59:58/6:59:59/7:00:00**


	24. 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM

**Chapter 24**

**The Following Takes Place Between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M.**

The President paused at Dixon's request. "You do realize that you're asking me to shoot down a civilian aircraft over the airspace of an ally?" the President said.

"Arvin Sloane is a terrorist, Mr. President," Dixon responded, "and the plane in question is most likely owned by the Covenant. That makes it by definition a hostile aircraft."

"That doesn't solve the possible diplomatic problems that might come up with the New Zealand government when they learn the President ordered US aircraft to violate their airspace," Mike Novick added.

"That's not my area of expertise," Dixon admitted. "But I'm sure when they learn the full story, they'll understand."

Sydney added. "Mr. President, this isn't an American civilian," she pointed out. "This is Arvin Sloane, a traitor, and a mass murderer, responsible for the detonation of a nuclear weapon on American soil. A man who recruited your own wife to betray this country."

"Agent Bristow, you'd have to admit that your opinion is hardly unbiased," Novick responded.

"Maybe not, but the fact is Sloane is brilliant at disappearing acts," Sydney argued. "This may be our last opportunity to stop him before he disappears. And I can assure you, Mr. President, when he does the damage will be far greater than having to shoot down a jet."

There was another short pause. "How long until the aircraft is in range?" President Palmer finally asked.

"It'll be within the range of New Zealand radar within the next thirty minutes," Dixon told them.

"I'll talk with the Prime Minister," the President told them. "It shouldn't be that difficult to convince him of the urgency of the threat."

"Thank you, Mr. President," Sydney said.

"I'm not doing this for any vendettas, " the President reminded her, "but for the good of this country."

_Whatever gets you through the night, _Sydney thought before hanging up. _And whatever will get me through the night. I did not ask Sloane for revenge, really…if Jack Bauer could keep from killing Nina for the good of the country, I can do the same with Sloane…I just have no need to_.

**7:04:15/7:04:16/7:04:17**

"Stick to the script, Trepkos," Nadia urged, as she handed Trepkos his phone.

"Or what? You'll kill me twice?"

Jack smiled evilly. "Yes. You'd be surprised what we can do with modern medicine."

Trepkos grimaced again, but he got the message. He dialed the number that he said belonged to Mackennas Cole's cell.

It took one ring to get an answer. "Alex, where the fuck have you been?"

"Sherry Palmer never showed up for her appointment," Trepkos managed a cool voice. "It took me an hour and a half to track her down."

"And you didn't think, maybe, I'd like this information?" The voice on the other end was getting angrier.

"Honestly, Cole, I figured you'd have more than enough on your plate then to want to deal with this particular loose end."

"Stop fucking around. Did you get the list?"

"Yes," Trepkos said simply.

"Is Mrs. Palmer dead?"

"As John Wilkes Booth."

"What about Chapelle?"

Fortunately, they had prepared for this. "He never made the meeting," Trepkos said. "Do you think he talked?"

"If he had, we'd both be on our way to prison." Cole paused.

"We'll have to handle him later. Where are you?"

"I'm just east of the marina."

"Good. Meet me in the lobby of the Bellwether in fifteen minutes. Once I have the list, we can blow this country."

"All right. See you then."

Cole terminated the call.

"Does that serve your purpose?" Trepkos said calmly, handing the phone back to Nadia.

"Fine," Nadia turned to Jack. "How do you want to play this?"

"Get whatever agents you can near the Bellwether, but have them stop within a three block radius. We don't want any of Cole's lackey's to see us approaching." Jack looked around. "We're not going to have enough time to do any kind of insert operation. This is going to have to be the equivalent of a smash and grab. We send Trepkos to the meeting place; as soon as we see Cole, our teams will snatch him up."

"Then we better hurry," Nadia said, hustling Trepkos into the backseat of the vehicle. "Syd!" she yelled to her sister. "We're headed towards the Bellwether!"

**7:09:29/7:09:30/7:09:31/7:09:32**

Nadia had elected to go with Trepkos and the rest of the field team. She told them that she would update Tony and the rest of CTU on the strike plan. Jack had decided to go with Sydney, supposedly to brief her on the attack parameters. However, she didn't believe for a moment that this was the only reason.

"What exactly is the layout of the Bellwether?" Sydney asked, trying to delay the inevitable.

"Chloe got the building schematics ten minutes ago," Jack said. "She's been downloading them to our PDA's right now."

"Good," Sydney said as she checked the device.

"So, you have a major grudge with Cole," Jack stated.

"Not really. Don't get me wrong, I hate the man's guts, and I will take an adverse amount of pleasure causing him a severe amount of pain," Sydney paused. "But the fact is, Cole's arrest is more symbolic than anything else."

Jack seemed a little taken aback by this. "The man helped orchestrate everything that's happened today," he reminded her.

"_**Yes, **_but despite all of his grandstanding, Mackennas Cole is not 'the man', " she said with a smile. "He's the head of the American branch of the Covenant, and it's going to be a major coup to stop him, but the fact is, the real villains of the piece, the ultimate puppet masters, were never anywhere near Los Angeles today. And it's going to be awhile before we finish tracking them down." She sighed. "It's frustrating, but I live with it." She smiled at him. "Welcome to the world I work in."

Jack shrugged. "That's what GITMO is for."

"He was the custody of the CIA for at least a year, and he never spilled one word about anything that he was doing with my mother," Sydney said bitterly. "Besides, it's been remarkably difficult to keep the guy in custody. I have a very uneasy feeling that if we capture him, we won't be able to hold on to him for long."

"In that case," Jack said slowly. "we'll have to do what is necessary for the good of the country."

Sydney looked at Jack. "Is that how you're going to justify what you to do to Nina Myers?"

To his credit, Jack didn't **blink**. "You know as well as I do what Nina Myers **is," **he said. "Besides, the two of us have had this discussion."

"And I have every intention of keeping my word," Sydney replied. "Given everything the woman's done, she doesn't deserve anyone's mercy."

Jack smiled. "You mean like with Sloane?"

"Now you know those are completely different circumstances," Sydney argued.

He voice became sharp and pointed. "Yes. Ninadoesn't have anybody who will mourn her when she dies." This finally forced Sydney to drop her gaze from Jack.

"She told him that she doesn't consider him her father anymore," she weakly responded.

"My daughter might not have considered me her father anymore," Jack managed to say with a level tone, "but I know for certain, if I had taken the plane down instead of George, she would have grieved just the same. Sloane's not going to stop being her father, no matter how many treasonous acts he's committed."

"Damn it, Jack, are you trying to make me go back on what I'm doing?"

"I know you won't," Jack replied. "Look, Sydney, don't get me wrong; Sloane deserves to die as much as Nina or Cole do."

"Then why are you getting in my face on this?" Sydney demanded.

"As I said, I'm the last person to give family advice. **But, **given everything I've seen today, you and Nadia genuinely care about each other. Don't expect to get a free pass when** s**he finds out that you were an active participant in her father's execution."

Sydney looked up at Jack. "Why are you telling me all this?" she asked. "I know you don't give a damn about the life of Arvin Sloane. So why?"

Jack hesitated. "Because I care about Nadia."

Sydney blinked. "Jack, are you—"

"You need to tell Nadia about what's going on with her father," he interjected.

"Jack, this is the worst possible time to tell her anything!"

"I'm well aware of that. I also know that telling her now is the difference between her hating you for a while, but eventually forgiving you, or never being able to talk to your sister again. She's already lost one person who loved her today. Do you really want her to lose you, too?"

Before Sydney could answer, the radio buzzed. "This is Curtis. We're just offsite."

"Copy that," Jack answered back. "All right. Let's do this."

**7:16:03/7:16:04/7:16:05**

Considering that it was in a fairly high-class location (20th Century Fox and MGM had offices operating less than five miles away), the Bellwether stuck out like a sore thumb. Compared to the well-designed complexes within walking distance, this hotel was badly lit, garishly painted and had no major facilities. Had it been built in some other neighborhood, it would have been called a rattrap. However, because it was a Covenant-run facility, Sydney was convinced that this layout was deliberate. Figuring out how and why, though, was a question for another day.

Jack and Sydney had parked a full three blocks away from the Bellwether, choosing to walk the rest of the distance. Sydney thought that the odds of them being spotted from the hotel were remote--- the first onslaught of morning commuters were lining the street, and really, the risk was greater for the people handling Trepkos then it was for her---- but nothing else could be allowed to go wrong today.

"How far out are you and Trepkos?" Jack asked.

"Approximately, two blocks north of the Bellwether," Nadia confirmed, "How exactly do you want to play this?"

Jack nodded to Sydney, who dialed CTU.

"Almeida."

"We're almost ready. Where are we with the thermal scan of the Bellwether?" Sydney asked.

"Hold on," Tony paused. "Marshall should have it texted to your PDA's any second." As Sydney took out her PDA, Marshall came on line.

"Okay, according to the scan, there are nineteen heat sources in the building. Nine of them are clustered in the lobby, six on the roof, and the others are scattered throughout the building. I'm texting their exact positions to you now. Keep in mind it doesn't show you if they're in motion."

"What about the top floor?" Jack asked.

"Empty," Marshall said. "Well, maybe not empty, but if anyone's there, scan doesn't register them."

"I've got the layout on my PDA," Nadia said over the radio, "but no one's answered my question: Are we storming the place or not?"

"Our units have moved into assault position just out of the sightline of the Covenant," Jack said. "We're going to let Trepkos walk in with a micro-camera to help us get a look at the lobby. Once we have a clear idea of what the lay of the land is, the assault teams will converge on the building, and we'll get the whole rat's nest."

"Jack, not to be devil's advocate, but we tried something remarkably close to this in Visalia with Nina earlier," Sydney pointed out.

"Yes, and as you'll recall, we captured Faheen," Jack countered.

"But that building only had one level; this one has six, and probably twice as many heavily armed soldiers occupying it." Nadia argued. "You sure that we can seize them without a problem?"

"We've got them outnumbered more than two to one," Tony argued, "Besides, keeping anybody in the Bellwether alive is only a secondary consideration. Our sole priority is neutralizing Cole and the remainder of the American cell. Any further information we get on the Covenant is lower down on our list of priorities."

Sydney didn't like this, but her reasoning was different: despite the speech she had given Jack on the way over, being the one who got Cole now felt more than symbolic to her. But there wasn't much point in starting a new argument, not when she had a more unpleasant conversation ahead of her.

"How long will it take for you to set up Trepkos with the camera and micro-transmitter?" she asked Nadia

"Thirty seconds."

"Then do it. Trepkos has an appointment to keep." She took out her gun and checked the clip. "And so do we."

**7:23:32/7:23:33/7:23:34/7:23:35**

Unlike almost all of the other devices that they had been using today, the micro-camera in question was not a Marshall Flinkman original**—**mainly because it was commercially available

As Trepkos was about to begin walking the two blocks between them and the Bellwether, she whispered into the radio, "Here goes nothing; Trepkos is in play."

Nadia had half expected that the Covenant chief financial officer would make some kind of break for it once he got out of the immediate reach of CTU. Yes, there were snipers positioned in several of the surrounding buildings, but they would be nearly useless the moment Trepkos got inside the hotel. However, the man made no effort to bolt. Maybe he had the intelligence to realize that he was literally in the valley of death, and his only chance for survival was doing everything he had been ordered. Nadia did not think the words 'rational' and 'Covenant' went together in a sentence, but she supposed there was a first time for everything.

Trepkos walked up to the door of the Bellwether, trying to look as unconcerned as possible. He took a deep breath and entered the Covenant territory.

The interior of the Bellwether was as undistinguished as the exterior, save for one thing. At this time of day in a typical hotel, you would expect to see guests mulling around the front desk, preparing to check out or have breakfast. There were some men mulling around dressed in suits, but that was all. More to the point, there were no woman or children or old people--- for that matter, no valets or bellmen. Only people in suits, who looked high to the gills on adrenaline. If this was a normal hotel, Nadia was Eva Peron.

Trepkos walked up to the lobby, and nervously headed toward the common area. Of the nine people Marshall's thermal scan had revealed to be in the lobby, Nadia could only see four, none of whom were Cole.

At the front desk, Trepkos was sent to room 101 for "Mr. Coleman."

Sydney smiled. "Subtly never was Cole's strong suit."

"Should we move in now?" Nadia whispered over the radio.

"Negative," Jack said. "Let's play this out a little more."

When Trepkos walked into the room, he heard, "So, what happened to you?"

Trepkos looked around. No one was in the room. And there wasn't a place to hide. "If you're so damned worried, where are you?" Trepkos said in a reasonable voice.

"Because I'm not a complete idiot."

Trepkos looked around for the voice's origin. It clearly had come from some communication device, but the angle of the camera was such that no one from CTU could see it.

"Where are you?" Trepkos demanded.

"I'm near enough for you to pretend I'm here."

"Sydney, is that Cole?" Jack asked.

"It's hard to tell over whatever microphone he's using, but it sounds like him," Sydney said.

"The deal was we'd meet face-to-face," Trepkos said with the only slightest hint of nervousness.

"Funny," Cole said. "I don't remember saying that. Did you happen to have that conversation recorded?"

"Quit bullshitting me!" Trepkos actually managed to sound angry. "Are you even in the country anymore or am I talking to another ghost?"

"They're watching all the airports and train stations; yeah, I'm in the fucking country."

"Guys, this may be as close as we're going to get to them," Sydney said, "I think we'd better have all teams move into attack formation."

"You have Sherry Palmer's list," Cole said.

They had prepared for this eventuality. "It's on a computer disk," Trepkos said. "I'm going to take it out." Trepkos took a disk that had been prepared.

"You sure the data's real?" Cole asked.

"Yes," Trepkos said.

"Then destroy it, you stupid fuck!

"You always were impractical, Alexander," Cole's voice said. "Makes me glad that this relationship is over."

Even as he knew that they would be too late to stop it, Jack shouted out "All teams, GO!"

The building shook with the explosion as Trepkos and the disk, and the entire room, blew up.

**7:30:59/7:31:00/7:31:01**

The two armored CTU cars drover straight into the hotel, smashing through he front doors, with windows down halfway so the submachine guns could blare away at the Covenant soldiers. The fire from the MP5s cut a swath through the room, moving down gunmen, most of whom hadn't even had enough time to return fire.

Had the cars in the lobby been the only vehicles CTU had brought, the Covenant soldiers in the Bellwether might have lived to fight another today. There had been several soldiers loitering in the hallway off of the lobby who had managed to stay behind, and their armor piercing bullets were penetrating the cars, one of them managing to shred the driver of one of them.

But less than thirty seconds after the shooting started, the CTU teams that Jack, Sydney and Nadia were commanding arrived. Jack, driving his vehicle, didn't stop in the lobby, but angled his car for the hallway the shooters used for cover fire. The gunmen redirected their aim, but Jack was low in the drivers seat, and the bullets missed, even though they penetrated the windshield. They left him more than enough room to guide the car over the gunmen.

Nadia's car swung in and fishtailed, presenting the broadside of the car to the attackers—including the CTU gunmen on that side.

Unfortunately, CTU had only managed to dispatch the dumber thugs Cole had working for him. One of the remaining six was ex-KGB, and had dealt with situations like this before.

"They probably have the hotel surrounded!" he yelled in a voice that echoed over the gunfire. "We have to get to narrower territory and try and outflank them! Fall back to the stairwell!"

As the six remaining soldiers fell back while keep up a line of fire, Nadia leapt out of her car, her MP5 ahead of her, gun blazing as they retreated.

"They're falling back! All units in the rear: hit the side door NOW!" she shouted.

Even on the top floor, Cole could hear the assault weapon fire. "Oh, when it rains, it fucking hurricanes!" he shouted and ran to the closet where he kept his weapons and ammunition.

"I told you we should've gotten out of here!" Nina shouted.

"Fuck when we should have gone," Cole said as he grabbed a Tag 17 pistol, a Gray Model 8 rapid shotgun, and all the ammunition he could fit into his pockets. "The only goddamn chance we have is that if Vitaly and his team can keep CTU occupied in the lobby, while we get to the subbasement!"

"Please tell me your plan is better than that," Nina muttered as she grabbed an AZ7 Soviet from the closest.

"Yeah, well all of my good plans have fallen to shit today," Cole said as he ran for the elevator. "From now on, I only improvise!"

Sydney burst through the side door, clutching her Magnum There had only been a token guard at the back door, which made her suspect that the majority of the Covenant force was still inside the hotel.

"Attention all teams!" Nadia shouted into her radio. "The remainder of the force is heading towards the back stairwell. All team converge on that stairwell!"

Nadia didn't even have to point that much out; all Sydney needed to do was follow the trail of corpses. By the time she and Nadia converged on it, the nine soldiers that Marshall had said were in the lobby were down to two.

Sydney waited until one of them was reloading before she fired a burst of bullets into one of them. "Give it up!" she shouted to the remaining fighter. "CTU has this building surrounded! Where is Mackennas Cole?"

The remaining Covenant guard was in his late forties, with a heavy Russian accent. "If we give up, the Covenant will kill us!"

"Your lifespan has shrunk to minutes anyway!" Nadia pointed out. "Tell us where Cole is, you live. Otherwise, we have no use for you!"

The Covenant soldier saw he was surrounded by seven guns, and realized that surrender his only option. He threw his gun on the ground. "Cole is on the top fl---"

He never finished that sentence, as two bullets from above hit him, one in his rib cage, one in the neck. Nor did the shooting end when the gunman died; another stream of gunfire started the second the CTU team tried to approach the body.

Nadia ran to the stairwell, with her rifle, and began firing upward. "The lobby's secure, Cole is in the building!" she yelled into her radio. "Tell teams to be on alert guarding all exits!"

Jack was giving the orders to his team, when he saw that the Bellwether's sole elevator was heading down. A nasty idea occurred to him

"Bauer to CTU, how many levels are there below the lobby?" he demanded.

"Um, according to the building schematics, there's a sub-basement, just below the kitchen! Only way to access is it is through the elevator!"

"What about leaving the building?" Jack yelled.

"Hang on, all right the subbasement meets up with the parking garage on the far eastern end of the block."

"All right, I'm heading there now, get the closest team you can to the exit of that garage! Cole is on the move!"

**7:36:43/7:36:44/7:36:45/7:36:46 **

Sydney heard the message from Jack's radio, but couldn't have gone any further as desperately as she wanted to. Whoever it was who was guiding the stairwell now had Nadia and her pinned down with a steady stream of fire.

"There's gotta be a way we can get around this bastard," Nadia shouted to Sydney.

Then it hit her with blinding clarity. "Keep shooting, but be ready to move on my command!" Sydney shouted, as she darted back down the stairs, and out the side door. She didn't have to go more than five feet from it when she found the fire escape, and began to climb up. It took her less than ten seconds to reach the first level, and another three to begin emptying her weapon into the window.

"Go now!" she shouted into her radio.

Nadia and her team had managed to kill only one of the shooters, when she suddenly had to duck her head back in order to avoid another bullet-ridden corpse hitting her. All of sudden, the gunfire stopped streaming down.

"Stairwell is secure!" Nadia shouted, as she led the remainder of her team up it.

Sydney had just climbed through the broken glass, when she saw someone she really hadn't expected to see again. Unfortunately, before she could get either of her weapons out, Cole had his shotgun within three inches of her head.

"Tell your sister to stay down, or I'll make sure you have to have a closed casket at your funeral," Cole whispered.

"You're gonna kill me anyway," Sydney pointed out.

"You don't know that. People in my position can be very--- generous."

"What position would that be?" Nadia said, as she reached the top of the staircase. "Horizontal?"

"Christ, you Bristow women don't know how to take advice," Cole said, as he lowered the gun to just below Sydney's chin. Unfortunately, Sydney was much quicker her than he was, as she grabbed a shard and drove it into his left hand.

He screamed, Sydney rolled backward, and Nadia fired two shots into his stomach.

"You all right?" she asked her sister.

"Better than him," Sydney said as she put her weapon to Cole's head.

"Figuring where my sister shot you, you're going to be dead in about thirty minutes--- and believe me, you don't want to be around that long," Sydney lowered her head to Cole. "Now I'm betting we can get all of the information we need off anything you've left behind, but I'd be willing to end your suffering if you answer one question: Where is Nina Myers?"

Cole spat out a hunk of blood, and was breathing heavy. "The--- little twat--- double-crossed me," he managed. "Once we were in the---- elevator, she cold-cocked me, stole my---- key card and shoved me out before we---- reached the subbasement."

"So much for honor among thieves, "Nadia said.

"Hey, at least she left him with his shotgun," Sydney said. "I figured she'd have stolen the clothes off his back. " She put her gun away. "I'm going to take care of some unfinished business. Would you make sure that he enjoys every last second of pain he's entitled to?"

"Not a problem," Nadia said.

"You--- said—you'd kill me," Cole gasped.

"What can I say?" Sydney said as she left. "Not much honor among the CIA either."

**7:42:08/7:42:09/7:42:10**

When Jack had entered the garage, he had sent a message over his com to all teams to stay outside and guard the exits, and that he was going dark. His justification was that he didn't want Cole or Nina to hear him until it was absolutely necessary. And, truthfully, he didn't. After the first Day From Hell, when the ghosts of the Drazen family came to haunt him, when his cell phone had gone off in the middle of a shootout, he never wanted to repeat that incident ever again.

There was, of course, the other motive. This was personal. Nina Myers would die, and if Cole got in the way, well, that would be Cole's problem. If anyone else got in the way, well…he wanted to prevent that.

Considering all of the effort that had been expended in the search for her, the actual finding of Nina Myers came as something of an anticlimax. He found her halfway between the elevator and the front entrance, in the process of hotwiring a blue Pontiac.

Since Jack didn't want to approach her where he could be seen in the car's mirrors, and didn't want to approach from the front, he went around a large SUV parked next to it.

Unfortunately, the adrenaline rush that came with the danger that she had been in for the last few hours affected Nina, and she could hear him coming. She leapt backwards, pistol in hand, and rolled under the SUV, popping up behind Bauer, the muzzle inches away from his head.

"Drop it Jack," she said, as Jack started raising his gun. "I could kill you fifteen times before you ever got a shot off."

Jack paid no attention. "Where's Cole?" he asked.

"Probably worm food, if the rest of your team found him where I shoved him out."

He was hardly surprised. "So you betrayed him, too."

"What can I say, Jack, you know who I am. So did Cole. Neither of you should have been that surprised," Nina said as she walked toward him. "And anyone could have told you that overdeveloped sense of morality was going to get you killed."

**Two **shots rang out in the garage, both bullets hitting Nina in the **backside**. She fell backwards, the gun falling out of her hand.

By now, Jack had managed to get to his feet, and was looking up to see Sydney, approaching from the back of the garage.

"You OK?"

Jack nodded. "Why didn't you finish this?"

"Because I keep my promises," Sydney said grimly. "Do it."

Jack stepped over to Nina, and kicked the pistol out of reach.

"So how's it going to happen, Jack?" Nina said callously, almost mocking him. "You going to drag this out, or make it short and sweet?"

Jack looked at Nina, as if he were seriously considering her proposition. Then kicked her as hard as he could in the jaw. He heard the bones in her jaw snap.

"I have just one thing left to say," he said as he raised his gun. "Teri was pregnant, you murdering bitch."

He left time for this to register before he emptied the clip into Nina's gut.

After it was over, Sydney's phone rang.

"This is a really fucking bad time," she started. Then she realized who the speaker was, and what had happened.

Nadia had walked away from Cole so she could update CTU about the success of the raid, without the background noise of Cole's death throes.

Then Sydney's father came on the line, and asked Tony to take the phone off speaker, and Nadia felt a premonition of foreboding that she hadn't felt since Weiss had gotten shot.

"What is it, Jack?" she asked, in what sounded like a normal voice.

"A little more than an hour ago, a plane carrying your father was tracked by the FAA flying over New Zealand," Mr. Bristow said slowly. "After failed efforts by the FAA and the United States Air Force to get the pilot to answer radio transmissions, the President ordered that the plane be shot down. That order was carried out five minutes ago."

Nadia was silent for a long moment. "Are you telling me that my father is dead?" she finally asked.

Again Sydney's father hesitated. "Reports say there were no survivors," he finally said. "Nadia---"

"Don't," she said in a dark tone. "Don't try to come up with platitudes when you hated my father as much anyone on the planet. I don't want to hear it. Not now, not ever."

With that she terminated the call.

For a long moment, Nadia just stood there. Then the moans and grimaces of Cole began to register again.

Without any expression or emotion, she walked over to the Covenant general, and put a bullet in his brain.

**7:50:24/7:50:25/7:50:26/7:50:27**

Considering everything that had happened today, Vaughn was not really surprised when he arrived at the Bellwether to learn that the shooting had stopped, and that the major principals behind today's attack were as dead as Marley's ghost. He managed to suppress the feeling of being left on the sidelines as he walked up to the woman he loved, who looked simultaneously shocked and depressed.

"Syd," he said simply to the woman who was standing off to one side, "I take it you heard about Sloane."

"Are they sure, Vaughn?" Sydney asked. "Have they fished his corpse out of the Pacific? Because that's the only thing that will convince me that he's dead at last."

"Sydney, we know he was on that plane; we know that the plane was shot down over the ocean," Vaughn said simply. "He was a monster, but he wasn't invulnerable. I'm pretty sure that this was the end of it."

Sydney looked at Vaughn. "That may not have been the only thing that ended because of Sloane today." Now her voice started to tremble a bit. "I just talked to Curtis; Nadia's MIA."

The sadness that he had managed to keep bottled up was starting to uncork a little as he remembered the other loss that he had shared with Sydney's half-sister. "She'll come back, Syd, " he said almost by rote.

"Why?" Now Sydney was starting to feel bitter. "The man who loved her was murdered, her father's dead, along with the only other link to her mother. She has no real motivation to even keep working here. Why should she even stay in Los Angeles now?"

"Because you're her family,"

Both Sydney and Vaughn looked up, a little surprised that Jack had entered their conversation. "Jack, no offense, but you're not exactly a role model on dealing with your family," Sydney said bluntly.

"I know." Jack admitted. "Which is why I'm going to follow some advice I got earlier today, and see if it's not too late to fix the mess I've helped make. As for Nadia," he considered his words for a moment, "she's got a lot more going for her than I did a year ago. I think that your relationship might be savable, and I think that she'd want to fix it."

He headed towards the exit. "Jack," Sydney said, and walked over to him. "It was a privilege working with you today."

She offered him her hand. Jack gave a small smile, and shook it.

"Good luck with everything," he said and began to walk outside. "I hope that next time we meet, it will be under much better circumstances."

She smiled. "I think I can guarantee it."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Sydney smiled, almost surprised at herself, considering how she felt. "You don't actually work for CTU anymore, and since you're not on the payroll, I doubt you'll actually be paid for today's work."

He shrugged. "I don't know about that. The US government pays a five million dollar reward for stopping a WMD attack, but I'm certain someone could say I'm just a government employee reactivated. I can't honestly say. Why?"

"Well, if you want, we have a position…two positions…open at APO. And since you used to run CTU, you may even have Sloane's position."

Jack looked from Sydney to Vaughn. "Given that Dixon has seniority in the field, he should have Sloane's job. If you don't mind, I would prefer field work." He gave a small smile. "If you don't mind, I'd like to think this over, and see my daughter, and maybe take a nap."

Jack walked over to his car, which Vaughn had driven over personally—he thought ahead, that one—and sighed. Damnit, this was a long day. By now, the building at CTU had probably left more or less en masse. The shifts would finally change, and no one would hang around for any longer than needed.

He stuck the key into the car, and was about to turn it when he heard someone say, "Hello Jack."

He looked up, and Nadia was only a few feet away. "Hi. Everyone's looking for you. If you weren't left alone with a dying Cole, we would have thought you were kidnapped."

Nadia smiled weakly. "It is sad to say that I understand that paranoia. But I can't…I don't think I could have been around anyone else right now."

Jack nodded and stepped toward her, his hand on her arm. "I understand."

She blinked again, her eyes leaking tears. "I just…thank you for all you've done for me today, Jack. Maybe, eventually, we could…have that talk you promised me, about moving on."

Bauer smiled slightly. "Maybe you could show me where our new offices are. I don't even know where APO is, which will be hard to get to work in the morning."

She smiled, a stronger smile than before. "You are taking…a position?" She swallowed. "I suppose we do have two…vacancies."

Bauer pulled her toward him as she started to cry. And he held her as she quietly sobbed into his chest, her arms around him.

_Approximately thirty miles off the coast of Wellington_

"Are you still fixed on his location?" the woman standing on the port deck.

"The transmitter is still functioning," said the man looking at the screen. "He should be coming into your sightline any moment."

"There!" said the second man, looking through the binoculars. "Approximately five hundred yards southeast!"

The man behind the wheel heard this, and accelerated the speed of the boat.

Once they were less than ten yards from the target, the captain stopped the boat, and the two other men lowered the rope ladder into the Pacific.

It took less than ten seconds for Arvin Sloane to scale the ladder and hoist himself over the starboard. The two men who had lowered the ladder into the ocean now fetched him several towels, and a steaming mug of brandy.

"Greetings, Arvin," the woman said for a moment.

Sloane waited until he stopped shivering to speak. "You know, you could have been a bit prompter with your warnings," he said. "Another ten minutes in the drink and I might have contracted hypothermia."

"Consider yourself fortunate that we managed to intercept that radio transmission from the Air Force when we did," the woman said. "Otherwise, you'd have been blown to atoms rather than dripping on my deck."

"I suppose that beggars can't be choosers. Did you at least bother to bring dry clothing?' Sloane asked.

The woman--- around Sloane's age, and with the same mixture of authority and menace in her manner---- snapped her fingers, and one of the servants fetched him some clothing. "So Cole's plan ended up being a complete wash," she told him.

"I told you from the start that he wasn't the right man for the job," Sloane said as he took off his soaking shirt, and put on the one the heavy shirt. "And now the American cell of the Covenant has been completely destroyed as a consequence."

"I would save your bravado for a time when you are less vulnerable, Arvin," the woman said.

"And you're telling me that you're not, Elena?" Sloane countered. "There is little point in crying over spilled milk. Where are we on our primary objective?"

"Progress is being made," Elena Derevko told him. "Now that you're here, we can accelerate our timetable." She walked over to him with a suitcase, opened it, revealing a Rimbaldi device. "We can begin now, if you wish."

"Let me dry up first," Sloane said. "After all, we don't need to waste any more time."

The Covenant yacht accelerated away from the splashdown site.

**7:59:57/7:59:58/7:59:59/8:00:00**


End file.
